Eden Burning by Deirdre Quiery

broadly. He felt the warm peace return to his belly, melting the ball of fear. He knew that warmth as Eileen, his Mum.
    Eileen opened the back door with the empty can of cat food in her hand.
    “Cedric – what are you doing up so early?”
    “I have a present for you.”
    “Don’t be mad. You’ve given me too many presents for Christmas and then the lovely pearls. You must stop. You’re spoiling me. What’s all this about?” Eileen looked a little puzzled as she peeled the sellotape carefully from the pink and white hearts wrapping paper.
    She then slowly opened a small white box in which lay a heart shaped diamond solitaire ring, glittering in the light from the chandelier dangling over the table. Eileen tried the ring on her right hand, fourth finger. It was a perfect fit. She moved the ring towards the chandelier watching the diamond sparkle even more brightly – a kaleidoscope of dazzling blue, green, pink and yellow. The light shimmered and sparkled like flames in a roaring white fire.
    “It’s beautiful Cedric. But it must have cost you a fortune.”
    “I won it in a game of poker last night.” Cedric opened the top button on his shirt and loosened his tie. “It didn’t cost me a penny.”
    “You can’t take that from someone because you’ve won it at cards. You must give it back. Someone will be missing this. It belongs to someone else. It meant something to them. I can’t take it.” Eileen handed it back to Cedric. “Give it back to the person you won it from. Who was it?”
    “It was no-one you know Mum. He was a stranger passing through who knew the rules. He played the game and lost.” He closed his hand around hers. “It’s yours.”
    Eileen clipped a strand of hair which had fallen across her face into her French plait. She raised her head to look into Cedric’s eyes. His lips were smiling but his eyes were disconnected from the smile which gave the impression of his face being divided into two parts. It was hard to know which half to believe – the red, spider-webbed and anguished eyes or the broad smile with its ivory white teeth. Eileen settled on the lower half of his face,mesmerised by the evenness and whiteness of his teeth – her eyes scanning right and left as though to discover a flaw.
    “How did he take it?” Eileen kept her eyes on Cedric’s teeth.
    “Take what?” Cedric smiled even more broadly, tapping Eileen on the nose with his index finger.
    “Losing the ring of course.” Eileen instinctively twitched her nose twice like a rabbit.
    “How would I know?” Cedric reached for a chair at the kitchen table.
    “You could tell from his expression couldn’t you whether he was upset or not?” Eileen filled the kettle for tea.
    “That’s what I would expect a woman to say. A man plays by the rules. It was only a game of poker remember? You’re meant to keep your face straight.”
    “Men have hearts too you know.” Eileen topped the teapot up with boiling water and didn’t look at Cedric as she whispered. “It isn’t only about your friend playing poker, what about her?”
    “Who?” Cedric drummed his fingers on the kitchen table.
    “The person the ring was meant for … who it belonged to.”
    She poured his tea into a china cup. Cedric twisted a small band of gold on his left pinky finger. “That’s the kind of thinking that would do your head in if you let it.”
    • • •
    Cedric, William and Peter returned to the Black Beetle the afternoon after Paddy had been murdered. The pub looked neglected from the outside with black paint curling on wooden window frames. There was a worn, muddy Guinness mat at the front door to wipe your feet and the door itself was riddled with woodworm. The windows were dusty and finger stained.
    Cedric swaggered through the open front door, followed by William and Peter. A faint shaft of sunlight fell through theopen door onto the wooden boards by the bar. Cedric strutted into the rectangle, as though into a spotlight on