Full Irish Murder

by Kathy Cranston

“What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I heard you.”

  “Why’d you ask so?”

  “To test you,” Granny Coyle said ominously, planting herself on one of the stools at the bar. “Now, make me a cuppa and I might see fit to tell you what I found out down at the Garda station.”

  Fiona froze in her tracks. “The Garda station? I’m not surprised you were down there, but you’re telling me you found something out about the case? What, was Robocop off getting his mechanical body serviced or something?”

  “No, but he may have become indisposed all the same.”

  “How’d you mean? Isn’t that a bit coincidental…” Fiona narrowed her eyes. “What did you do?”

  “I’m insulted you’d even ask such a thing…”

  Fiona didn’t miss the twinkle in her grandmother’s eye. “What did you do?” she asked again, holding the teacup between them as if she might not hand it over if Granny Coyle didn’t answer.

  Rose smiled and shook her head. “Did no-one ever tell you you shouldn’t come between a woman and her tea? Ah, it was nothing. I suppose I thought I might get in there before Sergeant Brennan if I got in early, but he was there in his office, all prim and proper as usual. Well, I thought I’d bring him a nice coffee to start the day.”

  “You did what?”

  “Oh, don’t look at me like that, sweetheart. No, I thought I’d bring him a nice coffee, and wasn’t it an awful shame that I happened to get out my eye drops at the same time. You wouldn’t believe it—didn’t my hand shake and half the bottle fell into his coffee.”

  The cup and saucer slipped from Fi’s hand and smashed all over the counter. She jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the hot liquid.

  “Watch out, love. That tea is hot,” Rose said casually.

  “Granny, I can’t believe what I’m after hearing. You’re telling me you went in there and poisoned… poisoned the sergeant. What possessed you? Do you know how much trouble—”

  “Relax, love. You sound just like your mother. I saw it on the telly. It doesn’t cause any harm, you know. It just makes you a little… agitated, I suppose you’d call it. I have to admit I was a bit sceptical as to whether it’d work, but sure enough, his eyes got very wide and he hurried away awful fast to the toilet. After telling me not to touch anything—the cheek of him.”

  “And did you?” Fi asked, not even bothering to clean up the tea that was now dripping onto the floor from the bar. “Did you touch anything?”

  “Of course I did, love.” And with that, Granny Coyle stood up, straightened herself out, and pulled a sheaf of a4 pages out from underneath her knitted jumper.

  Fiona nearly fainted. “What’s that?”

  “The case file,” Rose said, casual as anything. “I was as surprised as you are. You’d think in this day and age it’d be all electronic, what with everyone trying to save the planet. But no, they print it all out and keep it in folders down at the station.”

  “I wasn’t surprised that it was a paper file,” Fiona managed to say. “I was more wondering what on earth you were doing with it. He’s going to come after you as soon as he knows it’s missing.”

  “Oh, he won’t do that.”

  “I don’t know. If you were the last person he saw when he had the file, then I’m sure he’ll put two and two together. He may be an idiot but he’s got at least half a brain cell in there somewhere.”

  “He won’t suspect a thing,” Rose said, sounding no less upbeat. “I photocopied it see. He won’t even know I touched it. I was out of that office as soon as I had it. By the time he came out of the jacks with a big frown on his face, I was out at the desk chatting to Garda Conway again.”

  “So that’s where you were when I rang you. You were waiting for the sergeant to pop out.”

  “I was. You were accusing me of all sorts. Now you see why I couldn’t really speak. Anyway, enough of that. I got the file—that’s the important thing. Do you want to see it?”

  Fi looked at her as if it was a trick question. “Of course I do. Why’d you even need to ask?”

  Rose grinned. “Go and make me another cup of tea then, love. And try not to spill it all over yourself this time.”

  17

  “YOU REALISE THIS IS HIGHLY ILLEGAL?” Fiona said, with not much conviction at all.

  The truth was, she was dying to see what was in those pages, but the seriousness of her grandmother’s actions still did not escape her.

  “I hadn’t really thought about it, Fiona. But yes. Now that you mention it, I understand.”

  “Do you?” Fiona fiddled with the handle of her cup. She had brought them a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits on a tray and they were comfortably enclosed in the snug. She loved that spot. She had many happy childhood memories of having gang meetings in there with her brothers and sister when they were convinced they were the Secret Seven. Even now, sitting in there gave her a great sense of comfort and calm.

  “Lookit,” Rose said, looking Fi straight in the eyes. “I know well what I’ve gotten myself into. But you take a look through those pages and you’ll understand why I don’t care about the law at this moment in time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Take a look.” Rose pointed to the pile of pages, before grabbing them up and flicking through them. “No, I’ll show you. Hold on a minute.”

  Fiona watched as she licked her finger and flicked through the pages, occasionally stopping and skimming through the contents of a sheet before continuing her search. She did this for a few minutes, before she nodded and handed Fi a single sheet.

  “There.”

  “What am I looking at?” It appeared to be some kind of report, with loads of boxes and borders and tiny text in long, hard-to-read paragraphs. Her eyes tore across it as she struggled to make sense of what she was supposed to be seeing.

  “It’s their report about the interview with Alan Power,” Rose said, taking a sip of her tea. “Read it.”

  Fiona’s eyes grew wide with astonishment as she started to read and realised that, yes, she was actually looking at the police report that she had spent so long wondering about. It became clear why they had been so quick to let Power go.

  He’d been in Dublin on the day of the murder. Now, she felt sure that lots of people lied and said they were somewhere they weren’t, especially if they’d been arrested for murder.

  This was different.

  It wasn’t just a transcript of the interview with Power, it was a summary of the proceedings which was annotated with follow-up work the Gardaí had done to prove or disprove his story.

  He’d been working in Dublin on the day of the murder and his company had provided access card records as well as CCTV footage to confirm it. He’d been there from the early morning right through to the afternoon when he left for a meeting.

  Fiona’s eyes widened. “He never went back to the office! Granny, look!”

  Rose shook her head and returned her attention to the pile of pages. “They estimate time of death was one or before one. Power used his swipe card to exit the building at half past twelve. He was caught on CCTV leaving the building. Even if he drove that day instead of taking the train, there’s still no way he’d have made it back to Ballycashel in time. The poison was fast but it still took some time to act.”

  Fiona sat back and absorbed this. “He might not have been there, but what if he hired somebody to do the job for him? He waited until he was sure it was done so he had an alibi. Then he went to check they’d done it right.”

  Rose stroked her chin for a few moments before nodding to the sheet. “Keep reading. They checked his phone records.”

  Fiona skimmed over the tiny, typed words. “And found nothing,” she finished. She sighed. “He’s an IT expert. Maybe he had ways of communicating with the killer that are undetectable.”

  “She was poisoned, love. That suggests she knew the killer or else she wouldn’t have eaten while they were there.”
r />   “What if they snuck in? There was no sign of a break-in but they could have used the spare key we found.”

  “I can’t imagine there’s many hired killers roaming the streets of Ballycashel.”

  Fi shivered. “I hope not. So what does all this mean?”

  Rose finished her tea and refilled her cup from the pot. “It means we need to look elsewhere. It’s obvious Alan Power isn’t our poisoner.”

  “No,” Fiona said thoughtfully. “But he’s definitely the guy who broke into Mrs Stanley’s house that night. I’m sure of it. Why would he do that?”

  Rose shook her head. “Maybe he heard she had money. Lord knows I don’t know who would have told him that. Everyone thought she was poor as a church mouse.”

  “He was carrying something when we saw him. This report doesn’t even mention a search of his house. What did he take?” She flicked through the pages, looking for something that might help them figure it out. There was report after report, but she couldn’t find what she was looking for. She sighed. “Was there a list of everything they found in Mrs Stanley’s house?”

  “No,” Rose said. “No, I didn’t come across anything like that. I suppose it was because it had already been burgled when they found her. They fingerprinted the place but didn’t come up with anything.”

  Fiona rifled through the pages until she came to the list of evidence that had been photographed in place and then taken from the house.

  “I didn’t copy the photos,” Rose said. “I was afraid they’d jam in the copier.”

  Fi nodded, barely paying attention as she looked through the list. When she was done she sighed—it didn’t tell them anything. “They took all the dishes that were in the sink as well as all the knives and anything else that could have been used as a weapon. That’s it. We’re none the wiser. Hold on.” She flicked back to the page and skimmed the list. “Two tea cups, two plates, two forks, two knives and a teapot. It looks like she had company for that last meal. That means she definitely knew her killer.

  “There was no sign of her being involved in a struggle. The killer must have ransacked the place after the poison took effect. There was no DNA found on the other dishes so they must have taken care to clean them. Unless they were left over on the draining board from Mrs Stanley’s dinner the night before.”

  “No,” Rose said immediately. “She was tidy. Obsessively so. If there were dishes out they wouldn’t have been out for long. I’m telling you.”

  Fi shook her head. “So that rules out Alan Power. He didn’t have time to get back to the train station, let alone to get here and sit down for a meal with Mrs Stanley.”

  “It doesn’t seem that way. So what was he doing there?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t get it. She had a huge flat-screen telly and a state-of-the-art computer. And she had tickets sitting in the sideboard for Fort Lauderdale. But her bank statements are all here and she had no income apart from the pension. There’s no sign of any of these transactions. And there’s no sign of any money from the wind turbine company.”

  “Are you sure? Give me a look.”

  Fi handed it over.

  Rose shook her head. “I suppose it’s not that surprising. I’ve heard that those companies are very eager to get you to sign their contracts but it can take months or even years to get the turbines in. We would have known all about it if they’d started installing them.”

  “Where did she get the money then? And why did someone want to kill her?”

  “I don’t know. It still doesn’t sit right with me. That money had to come from somewhere. Unless you thought the telly and computer were more valuable than they are. And it could have been an old ticket.”

  Fi bit her lip. “No, definitely not. They were expensive. Marty knows a lot about technology. And I’m nearly certain the date on that ticket said this year. It was dated a few weeks from now.”

  Granny Coyle baulked. “It doesn’t sound like her. The only time I’ve ever seen a smile on her face was when she was bragging about going off to America. It surprises me that she missed an opportunity to let us know about it.”

  “She obviously didn’t want anyone to know.”

  “But why?”

  It was at that point that Fiona seemed to hit a brick wall. She sat back down and clasped both her hands around her cup of now-tepid tea. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? She had all that stuff—so what? It doesn’t bring us any closer to finding out what happened.” She glanced at the untidy pile of pages on the table. “I’m sorry, Granny. I shouldn’t have put ideas into your head. What if the sergeant had come in and caught you photocopying his paperwork? I should never have said a thing.”

  Rose’s eyebrows shot up so high they were in danger of disappearing into her hairline. “You’re sorry for putting ideas into my head? Good Lord, girl, what do you think I am, an impressionable little thing? Some sweet old dear who spends her days making jam and being conned left, right and centre by anyone who sets out to pull the wool over her eyes?”

  “No,” Fi said warily. “No, I don’t think that at all. I just feel guilty for getting you into this mess. What if the sergeant finds out you copied these files? It’s a serious offence.”

  “You didn’t get me into this mess,” Rose said stonily. “Do you think it was your curiosity that drove me to lace your man’s coffee and figure out how to photocopy a load of papers in the time it took him to go and do his business?”

  “Um… yeah?”

  “Oh of course it wasn’t, you silly yoke you. Sure haven’t I been listening to you and your brothers come up with all kinds of schemes over the years? I should think I’m immune to it by now. No, love, I did it for my daughter.”

  “For Mam?”

  “Of course. We have our ups and downs, but she’s still my daughter. And God knows this thing has her all riled up. If I can get to the bottom of it and see the real killer put away… well, let’s just say I miss your mother hounding me about slowing down and taking things easy at my age. I just want to go back to fighting about silly things, not worrying about her stressing over this business.”

  Fiona shook her head. “I’ve been worried too.”

  Granny Coyle didn’t look surprised. “I had a look through these papers as I was feeding them through the copier. And it seems to me that the guards have hit a dead end. They’ve got nothing.”

  “Neither do we.”

  “We have each other. And we have a bigger incentive. Sure, Brennan might have the promise of a bonus or a gold star on his record, but we’ve got your mother’s liberty and sanity to think of. That should give us a head-start.”

  “But I’ve got nothing,” Fiona sighed, desperately trying and failing to find something valuable in everything they had learnt that morning.

  “Did Mrs Roche get back to you about meeting for a chat?”

  Rose shook her head. “No. I haven’t heard back from her. It’s not like her.”

  Fi sighed. She was officially out of ideas.

  “Don’t give up! You did great work finding poor Declan Hanlon’s murderer.”

  “That was different. It was obvious once all the pieces came together, and it wasn’t just me. I don’t know. There’s nothing here. Nothing. She had no enemies. No friends that we know of. It’s like her whole life was secret; hidden from the people here. Like where did she get that big flash telly and computer? She didn’t drive. She never took the bus anywhere and there’s nowhere to get stuff that hi-tech in Ballycashel. She’s a mystery.”

  “Ah,” Rose said with a wave of her hand. “Where’s the mystery there? She probably got it all on the internet.”

  “But there was no record in her bank statements.”

  “Gift cards? You can buy them anywhere. Maybe someone sent them to her. A niece or nephew.”

  “For thousands of euro?”

  “They could be well off. You never know.”

  Fiona started to nod, but then she froze as a thought struck her. “The internet,�
� she muttered. “That flash new computer. That’s it!”

  Rose frowned. “I don’t think so, love. They can’t have killed her to take her computer. Didn’t they smash it and leave it there?”

  “No,” Fiona said, jumping to her feet. “No, that’s not what I meant. Think about it. She had this big flash machine. She must have spent a lot of time online to warrant such a luxury purchase. You suspected as much yourself.”

  “You’re right,” Rose said. “But it’s broken now so I suppose we’ll never know.”

  Fi shook her head. “Not necessarily.”

  “Where do you think you’re going in such a hurry? We need to stick at it if we have any hope of figuring this out.”

  “No,” Fi said. “We need to get over there. Maybe the clue to who killed her is on that computer. I’ve got to get over and have a look.”

  “But it’s broken!”

  “If the data’s any way retrievable, Marty’ll be able to get at it.”

  “Well I’m coming too, then.”

  “Oh come on, Granny. I’m not going to have you arrested for breaking and entering.”

  “I won’t be. Come on. You promised me you’d involve me in this, no matter how risky. Now, I’m coming with you or I’m going over there on my own. Got it?”

  “Granny…”

  “Don’t you granny me. Now, come on. The sooner we get over there, the sooner we’ll find out if it can be saved.”

  18

  “I’VE NEVER SEEN you walk so fast. Are you sure you don’t want to pop round to Mam and Dad’s house and get the car?”

  “No, I do not,” Rose said, not slowing her pace in the slightest. “If we go there we’ll only stop for tea and a snack and it’ll delay us. We don’t have the time. The last thing we want is some long-lost relative coming out of the woodwork and going in to have a root through Mrs Stanley’s belongings. We need to get there fast.”

  “Long-lost relatives…” Fiona said, trying to remember if she’d ever heard about relatives coming to town to visit Mrs Stanley. “Does she have any relations living nearby?”

  “Not that I know of. But the thing about some relatives is you don’t see them at all when you’re alive. These people only come sniffing around when they hear you’re gone.”