Laced

“Is that the decal?” Regan asked as Rory unfolded a couple of chairs for them to sit on.

“Yes. Isn’t that too fu

“It’s very clever,” Regan agreed.

“Too fu

Regan and Jack turned and were struck by an unusual, eye-catching painting that portrayed a misty Irish landscape of rolling hills, a thatched-roof cottage off in the distance, and three cows in the field gathered under a lace umbrella.

“She’s good,” Regan said. “The landscape is gorgeous and ethereal almost, but the painting is so whimsical.”

“I told her that lace umbrella was too fu

“Thank you,” Regan said as she and Jack took their seats. “This gym is yours?” she asked.

Rory nodded. “I was in the business world in Dublin until I had a heart attack three years ago, age forty-two. I weighed sixty pounds more than I do now. Sixty. That was some wake-up call. I quit my job, moved to Galway, started working out and ru

“That is a wakeup call,” Regan agreed.

“We both work out at least three times a week,” Jack said dutifully.

“I can tell,” Rory commented.

Another detective in the room, Regan thought.

“People are afraid to get started, or they don’t feel the motivation until something happens as it did to me. I want to make it easy for people to start exercising. I didn’t want a gym that would be intimidating. You know the kind-where you walk in and everyone looks as if they grew up on Muscle Beach. Most out-of-shape people turn around and head for the pub. I purposely made this gym look the way it does. Kind of like where Rocky worked out before his first big match.”

Bingo, Regan thought. “Tell us about the Fun Run,” she coaxed.

Rory’s smile was crooked. He nodded with pleasure. “I can’t believe we pulled it off. There are a lot of road races around here now. A lot of serious ru

Jack leaned forward. “How many people were in your race?”

“Four hundred and forty-seven, give or take a few.”

“Were they all registered?”

“The vast majority were. Some even signed up that morning just before the race. But then others joined the race as it was in progress. We didn’t want to be too strict with them because the idea was to encourage people to get out and run. But one thing is for sure. We gave decals only to people who were wearing a number and were registered. We barely had enough. I should have ordered more!”

Regan’s pulse quickened. “That’s great news,” she said.

“Can we get a list of the people who were in the race?” Jack asked.

“I don’t see why not.” He looked at Jack. “This couple holds a grudge against you, huh?’

Jack gestured with his right hand. “Yes, I suppose they do.”

“They must be Irish,” Rory laughed. “Let me print out that list.” He logged onto his computer, found the file, and printed out three copies. He handed one each to Regan and Jack.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people on this list, and if any of them turn out to be international jewel thieves, I’ll eat my hat.”

“Jane and John Doe are both probably in their forties,” Jack said. “We could start by eliminating anyone on this list who is very young or much older.”

“Let’s see,” Rory said. “Colleen Adams. You can cross her out. She’s about twenty-five. She had a baby and couldn’t lose the weight, so she joined our race and ran pushing her baby’s pram. It was too fu

This could take all day, Regan thought.

“Billy McFadden,” Rory continued. “He’s a young whippersnapper about twenty. At the begi

Regan could tell Jack was trying his best to be patient.

“If we could just quickly go through the list,” Jack said gently. “The Does are an average-looking couple, probably in their forties. They’re masters of disguise, so we don’t even know what color hair either of them had when they ran the race or what they might have done to change their appearance. They could have paraded around that day as older people for all we know. I see some of the same last names here. Can we check to see if any of these people are married or have the same address?

Twenty minutes later they had narrowed the list down to five couples whom Rory did not know personally and who had registered the morning of the race. He tapped the keys on his computer. “One of the couples signed up at the very last minute, but their signatures were indecipherable,” he said. “They didn’t give their address.” He looked up. “The race was about to begin, and people were in a hurry to get to the starting line.”

“That might have been them,” Jack said, obviously disappointed. “They wouldn’t have wanted to give you their names. What can you tell us about the other four couples who signed up at the last minute?”

Again Rory tapped the keys of his computer. “One couple was staying at the Galway Bay Hotel.”

“That could have been them,” Regan said quickly. “What are their names?”

“Sheila and Brian O’Shea.”

“Sheila and Brian O’Shea?” Jack and Regan said at once.

Rory looked up. “You know them?”

“There’s a couple staying up at the He

“We saw them this morning,” Jack told Rory. “Jane and John Doe had already checked out.” He turned to Regan. “We’ll have to talk to them.”

“And the other three couples?” Regan asked Rory.

“None of them gave addresses. But I’ll print out their names for you. Do

“They could have been tourists as well,” Regan said. “At least it gives us something to start with. Who was signing the ru

“Clara was in charge of that.”

“Who’s Clara?” Regan asked.

“The girl at the front desk.”

Oh, great, Regan thought. I’m sure she’ll be a fountain of information. “We’ll talk to her on the way out,” she said. “And we’re visiting my cousin Gerard Reilly today. He has a radio show here in Galway-”

“Gerard Reilly!” Rory said. “Of course I’ve met him. He has the late-night radio show. I’ve been trying to get him into the gym for ages, but he’s stubborn. He needs to work out!”

“Oh,” Regan said, concern in her voice. “I haven’t seen him in several years.”

“He looks all right,” Rory said quickly, “but he admitted he doesn’t exercise much. Tell him to come and see me.”

“I will,” Regan promised. “What I was going to suggest is that we go over this list with him.”