One Coffin Too Many

by Brendan O'Grady

  Devoy nodded in agreement, finished his breakfast and went back to bed.

  ✽✽✽

  CHAPTER 24

  Monday

  “ Good morning, Crosby, Haynes and McHale, can I help you? “

  “ Indeed you can Miss. I’m Detective Inspector Devoy of the South-Eastern Division and I’m calling about a former client of yours. “

  “ Did you say police? “

  “ Yes, “

  “ What’s the client’s name, sir? “

  “ His name was Horgan. “

  “ Hold the line, please. “

  Music came on the line. Devoy listened for a while as it went round and round and round. He was about to ring off when he heard a click.

  “ McHale here. Can I help you, sir? “

  “ Yes, I’m Detective Inspector Devoy. I’m phoning about a former client of yours called Horgan. “

  “ Oh, is he in trouble with the law, Inspector? “

  “ Well he was but not anymore. He’s dead, you see. “

  “ I see. “

  “ And you say he name is Horgan. “

  “ The very one. “

  “ Let me see. I don’t think he’s one of mine. I’m not acquainted with the name. “

  Devoy heard the keyboard of a computer being tapped.

  “ No, he’s not one of mine. Ah, yes, he’s one of Mr. Haynes’ clients. Unfortunately, Mr. Hynes is not here today. He’s out of town. “

  “ I see. Maybe you can help me. “

  “ I’ll try. “

  “ Like I told you, Mr. Horgan is dead. Died in prison. Suicide. “

  “ Oh God. That’s terrible. “

  “ Mr. Horgan had a lot of business interests down here including an estate agency. We need to get in touch with his next of kin. “

  “ But of course, Inspector. “

  “ We’d also like to know did he leave a will? “

  “ Just a moment, Inspector. I’ll have a look. “

  Devoy heard more tapping.

  “ Ah, yes. Here it is. Just the barest of details. I’m afraid Mr. Horgan’s file is encoded for security reasons. Yes, he has a brother and a contact number and nothing else, I’m afraid. We’ll have to wait until Mr. Hynes gets back. “

  “ What’s the brother’s name? “

  “ Raymond Horgan. “

  “ And the contact number? “

  “ It’s a foreign one. Here it is. “

  McHale read out the number.

  “ That’s somewhere in the Caribbean. “

  “ Oh, really? “

  Devoy did a quick search of his smartphone.

  “ It’s actually the Caymans, I believe. “

  “ The Caymans? “

  “ Yes, those islands that are the favourite banking place for Post Office savers and the like. “

  McHale gave a little laugh.

  “ I take it you don’t approve, Inspector. “

  “ Not at all, Mr. McHale. The last time I had anything to do with anybody from the Caymans I had to arrange accommodation for the person involved. “

  “ Accommodation? I don’t understand, Inspector. “

  “ He’s a guest of the state, Mr. McHale. He’s doing ten years for fraud. Lost his tan and all. “

  “ I see. “

  “ So are you going to phone Raymond Horgan or do you want me to do it? “

  “ I think it would be best if I did it from the professional point of view. After all, his brother was a good client of ours and we have to attend to his estate. “

  “ Well, you do that Mr. McHale and tell Raymond I’d like to have a word with him, too. “

  “ I’ll do that, Inspector. Leave it to me. “

  “ I’ll give you my number then, Mr. McHale. Hope to hear from you soon. “

  Devoy folded his notes and stood up. The conference had been a wash-out, an anti-climax. Very few reporters had turned up, a few from the provincial papers but none from the nationals. And nobody from the television stations. Caroline hadn’t turned up either and her presence was sorely missed especially by Devoy who banked on her leading the questions he liked to be asked so he could control matters. With no local reporter to stimulate and lead the pack the conference fizzled out. The death of a local celebrity even if he had committed suicide was the end of the story – probably only worth a sidebar in the papers. Horgan was dead and that was that.

  As he was leaving the canteen which served as a press conference centre Devoy spotted a young man sporting the badge of the Courier newspaper. He had seen the same young man during the press conference hanging onto every question that had been asked and writing down all the answers.

  He stopped him.

  “ You from the Courier? “

  The young man nodded.

  “ Why? Got a scoop for me? “

  “ What happened to Caroline? Caroline Gleeson? Is she sick or something? “

  The young man gave him a strange look.

  “ Sick? You’re kidding me. Caroline’s dead. She died this morning. Collapsed in the street and was carted off to hospital. “

  “ And what did she die of? “

  “ I don’t know. I was doing some work for the paper as part of my summer project and they told me to stand in for her. I’m sorry. I thought you knew. “

  “ No, I didn’t and we don’t cart people off to hospital. Do you understand that? That’s a person, you’re talking about. Not a piece of rubbish. You’ll never rise to the heights she did if you continue to speak of humans in those terms. Do you understand that? Good, now get out of here or I’ll arrest you for loitering. “

  The young reporter quickly gathered up his things and left the canteen.

  “ Prick, “ roared Devoy after him. “ Young insensitive little prick. “

  Heads turned to watch the exit of the young reporter.

  Angela came over to him. Concern was written on her face.

  “ What was that all about, Frank? “

  “ Sorry, I’m overwrought. Caroline is dead, Angela. She dropped dead this morning in the street. I didn’t like his description of her been ‘ carted off “ to hospital as he put it. “

  “ Oh, Frank, I’m sorry. I knew you and she were close. “

  “ Yeah, “ he replied. “ I’ve lost a good friend – somebody who had shown me the ins-and outs of this town when I first came here. I had to investigate a break-in at her cottage. After that she fed me things and I likewise. And now I feel guilty. “

  “ Guilty! Why? “

  “ I began to suspect her of the attack on Dillon Sunday night. “

  “ Caroline! You can’t be serious? “

  “ Yes, Caroline. It was something I said to her on Saturday. You see I wasn’t my usual self with her for some reason. I felt I had to hold back. I don’t know why. It was just something I felt in my gut. I had the feeling she was getting too close for comfort. Probing too much. It wasn’t her usual approach. Anyway, she’s dead now. “

  “ I’m so sorry, Frank. “

  “ Listen do you feel like having a drink. The doctor this morning told me to take it easy – to take some time off. When all this shit is finished I think I’ll go on a cruise and booze. I… “

  Just then the phone in Devoy’s pocket started buzzing.

  He switched it on but couldn’t identify the number.

  “ Hello, “ he said.

  “ Frank, hello. It’s Costello. Look, I wonder could you come over here. I’m at the hospital. You’ll find me in the autopsy suite down in the basement. “

  “ The autopsy suite? Why, what’s going on? “

  “ I’m about to perform an autopsy on that reporter from the Courier – you know the woman who died this morning. “

  “ But why an autopsy, Dr. Costello? “

  “ Caroline didn’t die a natural death, Inspector Devoy. “

  “ Are you trying to tell me someone killed her? “

  “ No, far from it. Caroline Gleeson died from surg
ical shock. You would have to see the state of her body to understand that. “

  “ I know she was badly sunburned. “

  “ Frank, Caroline Gleeson wasn’t sunburned. She was burned full-stop. Why don’t you come over here and I’ll explain it to you. You may have a criminal case on your hands. “

  “ I don’t believe it, “ said Devoy switching off his phone. “ I just don’t believe it. “

  Devoy looked at Angela.

  “ That was Doctor Costello, Angela. Caroline wasn’t sunburnt – she was burnt full stop. “

  “ God, how did that happen? “

  “ Your guess is as good as mine but my intuition is telling me something. Anyway, are up for an autopsy? “

  Angela made a face.

  “ Do I have to? “

  “ No, but you may have to one day. We’ll see. “

  Before Costello pulled back the sheet covering Caroline’s body Devoy held up his hand.

  “ Look Doc, “ he said. “ Caroline was a good friend of mine. I’d rather not see her totally naked. “

  “ That’s okay, Frank. I’ll be as discreet as I can. “

  Costello drew back the cover as far as Caroline’s hips and Devoy and Moore gasped. From her breasts down Caroline was badly burned. There were still massive blisters on her body and somehow she had managed to get hold of various creams and medications that had added to the damage.

  “ You sometimes see these types of burns when people overdo the fuel on barbecues but not to the same degree. You get a blowback effect. But these burns were caused by a propellant, paraffin or petrol or both. A fire was started, it failed to take off, paraffin or petrol was thrown or squirted onto it and wham – blowback. Had she gone to hospital right away or called an ambulance we could have saved her but she didn’t. The question is why? “

  “ Obviously she was covering something up. She knew questions would be asked and the police alerted. She couldn’t take that chance seeing as there had been a fire at a certain Mr. Horgan’s place and the police were looking for a culprit. “

  “ Yes, that’s what I thought, Frank. I don’t suppose you want to stay for the autopsy – either of you? “

  Devoy looked at Angela who looked ill.

  “ No, Doc, another time maybe. What a terrible waste. “

  “ You can say that again. Well, I’d better get started. “

  Devoy paused. Something had occurred to him.

  “ If you don’t mind I’d like to take her prints. It might solve another mystery while we’re at it. “

  “ Fine. Go ahead. “

  Outside the autopsy suite Angela threw up.

  “ I’ve never seen anything so disgusting in all my life, Frank and the smell. It was awful. How could she have let things go so far without help. “

  “ My guess is that Caroline set fire to Horgan’s home and got badly burned in the process. What was she out to destroy? “

  “ I’ll never get her image out of my mind, Frank. “

  “ I think you should go home, Angela. You look awful. “

  “ Will you bring me, Frank? I don’t want to be on my own. “

  “ Of course I will. You don’t think I’d leave you like that. Just let me drop these prints off with the fingerprint people first. Something tells me Caroline was the sender of the ashes. We’ll know by tomorrow. “

  “ As you wish but get me home. “

  “ Okay, you stay in the car and keep your head down. I shouldn’t be long. We need a search warrant for Caroline’s cottage along with one for Horgan’s estate agency. Should be a few surprises there. “

  ✽✽✽

  CHAPTER 25

  Tuesday

  “ Well I have to say that the first time I’ve seen Sullivan happy, Angela since he came here. He congratulated us both for clearing up the mystery of the fire and the finger print got onto him to tell us that Caroline’s prints matched those on the envelope. Right index finger and thumb. We’ll probably find more evidence of her involvement when we search her cottage. Poor Caroline. I still can’t believe she’s dead. “

  “ But why, Frank? What was Horgan to her? It doesn’t make sense. “

  “ Nothing has made sense since we came across that bloody coffin. Every step we took led us down another alley and more deaths. They are all connected. I’m damn sure of that. The answers are in the details. Up to now we’ve been reacting to events. Something happens, we jump. But last week we started to make things happen. We raided Fallons the undertakers and took away their files. We did the same with Cremin’s house and property out in the country. And I dropped a hint to a certain party. “

  “ You’re referring to Caroline? What did you say to her to warrant her waylaying Dillon? “

  “ Well it wasn’t what I said – it was what I intimated. Like foul play was suspected in the death of Horgan and also, and I regret this because of what happened to poor Dillon – I let it drop that because Horgan’s files were destroyed in the fire his solicitor Dillon would be working overtime to sort out the rest. She couldn’t allow any other files relating to Horgan to come to light. She had to get rid of them. It was a lousy thing to do but I did it. Besides, Dillon wasn’t doing us any favours. “

  “ And lo and behold Dillon gets a mysterious phone call late at night and the rest we know. “

  “ Yes, and the rest we know but there’s still a lot more. All this came about because we started to apply pressure. Upped the ante as they say. “

  “ But we haven’t found anything yet – we haven’t even examined any of the files.”

  “ You and I know that but the others don’t. “

  “ And who are the others, Frank? “

  “ That I’m not sure of but they’ll reveal themselves in the days to come. “

  “ I suppose Caroline’s death will be recorded as misadventure. “

  “ It would appear so. “

  “ Anyway, poor Caroline did not die in vain. Her death, however unfortunate, is going to bring us another step nearer to whoever is behind all this. I wonder who will pop up next? “

  “ I forgot to tell you, Frank. Mrs. Walsh was on to Sullivan while you were at the doctor yesterday. Seems she made a scene. She demanded the return of her computer? Said she couldn’t run her undertaking business without her computer. “

  “ And what did Sullivan say? “

  “ He said she didn’t need a computer to bury people. “

  Devoy laughed.

  “ I could imagine it. So what happened then? “

  “ She just stormed out threatening us with a solicitor. “

  “ Good. She deserves to be taken down a peg or two. “

  “ And you’re the man to do it, I suppose? “

  “ Please Angela. Let’s not go down that road again. “

  “Fine with me. Do you want me to tell about Horgan’s brother, Raymond? “

  “ He’s not in the Caribbean to get a tan, I’d say. “

  “ Far from it. He’s wanted for fraud, embezzlement and theft. He hopped the country and hasn’t been seen since. There’s an international arrest warrant out on him. They reckon he’s somewhere in the Caribbean. “

  “ Just as I thought. It runs in the family. We should be hearing from his solicitor any day now that there’s money to be had. “

  “ So here we are, “ said Devoy as he looked around Caroline’s sitting -cum -dining room. It took up practically all of the space of the cottage with an open kitchen at one end and two bedrooms separated by a bathroom at the other end. “ Nice and bijou as an estate agent would say. “

  “ What are we looking for? “ asked Angela.

  Devoy shrugged.

  “ Everything and anything. Dillon’s laptop for starters. “

  Angela started to open drawers.

  “ Angela, do me a favour. I don’t want to go through Caroline’s personal things, you know, feminine things. I wonder would you do that? “

  “ No problem. I’ll take the room on the
left. It looks like her bedroom judging by the sign on the door. The other one looks like an office of some sort. “

  The room on the right turned out to be Caroline’s home office. But it was locked. Devoy turned the handle a few times but the door didn’t budge. He could have kicked it open with his foot but he didn’t think it was a good idea. Besides, Caroline was still on his mind. He went back to the kitchen area and selected a suitable knife from the cutlery drawer. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy so he took off his jacket, got down on his knees and started to undo the screws with the knife. It was heavy going but he managed to undo two screws. There were four others to go.

  A shadow suddenly blocked his light. He looked up. Angela was standing there looking down at him.

  “ What are you doing on your knees, Frank? “

  “ What does it look it look like? Do you think I’m praying or something? I’m trying to open this bloody lock and it’s a bitch. “

  “ Why don’t you try this? “ replied Angela dangling a key in front of him.

  “ Where did you get that? “

  “ It was on a nail behind her headboard. All I did was look. “

  “ How did you know I was having trouble? “

  “ From past experience. I heard your knees click once, then the swear word, another click and then another swear word. You know you could keep time with those clicks. Ordinary mortals have to click their fingers. “

  “ Very funny. “

  “ Allow me, “ said Angela inserting the key in the lock.

  The door swung open and Devoy self-consciously heaved himself up trying to avoid clicking his knees.

  “ I’ll leave you to it, “ said Angela. “ Give me a shout if you need me. “

  Devoy entered Caroline’s inner sanctum. The air was stuffy but he still detected the scent of the soap she favoured. It hadn’t yet been blotted out by the stench of the ointments she tried to cure herself with. He took in her office. The whole wall was dominated by a wide desk with two sets of drawers that was positioned between two free-standing shelving units that held audio cassettes, video cassettes and DVDs. The other side contained books of every size, shape and description covering a multitude of topics from A to Z. On the desk stood a desk top computer with one of the largest screens that Devoy had ever seen. Beside it was a laser printer cum fax cum photocopier. A faint hint of daylight entered the room from a side window with bars set into the masonry to discourage any intruders. Devoy switched on the computer and while it was booting up he went through the drawers. But there was nothing of interest. When he looked up the screen told him the computer was password protected. He stretched out his legs and his right foot touched something hard on the