MARY ENDED IT, PAT WAS OUT BOBBY WAS IN
AFTER Pat Quirke finds out about Mary Lowry’s new relationship in late 2010, they have a heated argument. He takes her phone and tells Bobby Ryan: ‘I’m the man.’
Mary is forced to come clean about the affair with her new boyfriend and, after an emotional heart-to-heart, Bobby Ryan decides to continue with the relationship.
In a valiant bid to clear the air, he suggests a meeting with Quirke.
Soon after, at an extraordinary gathering, Mary, Bobby and Pat converge at the Hayes Hotel in Thurles, where the love rivals come face-to-face.
IT WAS January 5, 2011. Bobby parked his Mr Moonlight van outside Cusack’s Bar in the Hayes Hotel in Thurles and made his way inside. It was a cold and bleak winter’s day and the atmosphere between him and Mary was tense. She had travelled with him from Fawnagowan and as they walked towards the hotel, where they had arranged a face-to-face meeting with Pat, Bobby’s phone rang and he answered it. Michelle.
Bobby had told her all about the Pat and Mary situation and she was not happy with the idea of her father going toe-to-toe with this man who had caused all the drama. She thought her father was acting like a fool and feared that he would be humiliated or insulted, walked over like a doormat.
‘I was like a tyrant,’ she would admit later when describing that unorthodox meeting.
She was angry that her father wanted to see Pat Quirke in person and also that he had not asked her to accompany him to it. She couldn’t understand why he would go alone; nor could she understand what, if anything, he was hoping to achieve by it.
But, Bobby being Bobby, in his optimistic and generous way he thought he could build a bridge between himself and Pat Quirke. He had no way of knowing there was no bridge in the world long enough or strong enough to cross that gap.
No matter what she said, Bobby was not for turning, so Michelle told him to call her directly after the meeting. He told her that he would.
The venue was Bobby’s choice. It was handy in that he needed to bring his lorry in for a service and the hotel was along the route to the garage, but it’s likely he also liked the neutrality and anonymity of Cusack’s Bar. It was a big, modern bar with cosy, tucked-away corners – the perfect location for conducting business discreetly.
Bobby and Mary walked into the bar and joined Pat at a table. The waiter brought menus and Mary and Bobby ordered supper; Pat ordered a glass of water, nothing else. For the next hour, they talked. At least, the two men talked. Mary was unusually quiet, something that irked Pat.
Bobby spoke about the break-up of his marriage, trying to forge that common ground. He told Pat that he had nearly become an alcoholic after the split and that he had gone through a very hard time, but he had come out the other end.
Pat apologised for the shock of the incident with Mary’s phone. This was a positive start to the proceedings. They talked about Mary and Bobby’s relationship, that they were mad about each other, and that Mary stood by her decision to end the affair with Pat. It was very simple: Pat was out, and Bobby was in, it was unfortunate for Pat, but it couldn’t be helped.
After the hour, Pat stood up from the table and said his goodbyes. He and Bobby shook hands. Then Pat walked away and out of Cusack’s Bar as Mary and Bobby left together. Pat later described this meeting as a good talk, that he wished the happy couple well before leaving and that he was unexpectedly impressed by Bobby, whom he had written off as a nobody. He was, he later said, happy that he had got the chance to let Bobby know he wasn’t ‘a monster’.
‘I was happy enough with the meeting because he didn’t see me as someone who had it in for him.’
Depending on which way this was meant, it could be seen as a statement of honest conciliation, or a statement of sinister intent. Did he mean that the air had been cleared between them, there was a clear understanding and Bobby could rest assured that his relationship with Mary was not going to be derailed by Pat Quirke? Or did he mean that under the guise of the appeased ex-lover he could handle Bobby Ryan more effectively – that Bobby would drop his guard and leave himself vulnerable? Bobby later told a friend that he
‘He thought he could build a bridge with Pat’
had used the meeting to warn Pat to leave Mary alone: ‘Bobby basically
‘We’re single so we’re doing nothing wrong’
said: “Mary is single and I am single, so we are doing nothing wrong.” He told Pat that he had a wife that he should go home to and concentrate on and that if he didn’t leave Mary alone, he would tell the wife about the affair. He told Pat to get professional help and Pat said he would.’
Whatever Bobby thought about Pat, the meeting had given Pat a unique chance to size up the opposition at close quarters. Would his conclusion be that he should leave Bobby and Mary alone? Or would he reckon that he had a fighting chance of scuppering their relationship and reinstating himself in Mary’s Lowry’s affections – and life? No doubt Bobby and Mary hoped that it would all blow over now, but only time would tell what
Pat’s reaction would be.
In January, Mary’s relationship with Bobby became intimate and he sometimes stayed with her at her home. He kept the van out of sight of Rita’s house (Mary’s mother-in-law) by parking in the farmyard, but someone might have noticed it there.
One morning that same month, Mary went out walking with a friend after dropping the boys to school. When she returned home, she found her front door standing open. The children were at school and Rita would never enter her part of the house and leave the door open, and Mary was sure she had locked it when she left, as she always did.
She stepped cautiously through the front door and into the porch. Mary loved plants and the porch was covered from floor to ceiling in greenery. As she navigated her way around her potted plants, everything appeared to be in place. All was quiet. She moved towards the second door, leading into the main house and the kitchen, when she suddenly saw Pat standing behind that second door. Mary was startled to see him and asked him what he was doing and how he’d got in. She had definitely locked the front door.
‘He said I had left the front door open,’ she would later say. ‘I didn’t believe that, but what could I do? He said he was looking for me, even though my car wasn’t there.’ Mary wasn’t happy with this explanation. ‘If my car wasn’t there, then I wouldn’t be there.’
She rang him half an hour later and asked him again how he’d got into her house. He told her she had left the front door open.
Now that she was finally free from his clutches, Mary’s eyes were beginning to open to the truth of the situation, but she still hadn’t realised the full extent of Pat’s obsession. She told a friend about the incident in the kitchen and how his story about the door being open was making her doubt her own mind.
‘This latest incident felt threatening too’
Afterwards, Mary decided it was time to take some precautions. Pat’s behaviour was odd and strange, but this latest incident felt threatening too. She called her brother Eddie, who worked as a carpenter, and asked him to change the locks on her front door.
Eddie called around with his toolbox and changed the barrel. He gave Mary a set of keys to the new lock, which she kept safely in her possession. With the locks changed and secured, she could rest easier in her bed at night.
Or so she thought.