‘It’s stable now. We’ve sealed off the area all around Paddy Fearon’s caravan and the technical team are down on their hands and knees picking up the bits. Before it gets dark, we should be able to allow most of the Travellers to go back to their homes. I have to say, though, that this incident has done no good at all to our relationship with the Pavee community. Some of them have even got it into their heads that it was us who blew up Paddy Fearon – a controlled explosion to force open his caravan door that got out of control – even though two of our officers got killed.’
‘What about witnesses? Did any of the Travellers see anybody acting suspicious around Fearon’s caravan?’
Katie shook her head. ‘No. But even if they had, they wouldn’t tell us, would they? Travellers never rat to the law. I know it sounds racist, but I think Detective Dooley has a point. When he went there to set up that knackering deal with Fearon, he said that everybody on the whole site seemed to be acting suspicious. It’s just the way that Travellers are. They don’t trust anybody and nobody trusts them.’
‘So what are you going to do now?’
‘Have a cup of coffee and a cheese sandwich if the canteen have any left. Then I’m going up to the Bon Sauveur to see how the search is getting on – they should have the ground radar working by now. First of all, though, I want to see if Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán has made any progress in locating the remaining four nuns from the Sacred Seven that Mother O’Dwyer told me about. That’s if any of them are still alive. It’ll save us all a fierce amount of work and worry if they’ve all passed away already.’
‘Very good,’ said Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin. He looked down at his desk with two fingertips pressed against his lips, as if he were having trouble remembering something. As Katie turned to leave, he said, ‘You will be very careful, won’t you? I mean, after what happened to Detective Horgan, and now this.’
‘Of course,’ she said, with half a smile. ‘I’m always careful.’
He raised his eyes. She could tell that he didn’t really want to say this, but if he didn’t he would never forgive himself later. ‘It’s just that you’re a very attractive woman, Katie, and we don’t want a similar tragedy befalling you, do you know what I mean?’
‘Thank you, sir,’ said Katie, and left his office. Walking along the corridor towards her own office, though, her eyes were wide open and she could hardly believe what he had just said to her. You’re a very attractive woman? Denis MacCostagáin had called her a very attractive woman? And what a moment to choose, when she and everybody else in the station was still deeply in shock.
Perhaps that was why he had chosen this moment, thought Katie. Perhaps he had believed that he couldn’t shock her any more than she was shocked already.
* * *
She went into her office, hung up her coat, and immediately went across to her bathroom. She switched on the light, locked the door and leaned back against the wall, facing the mirror over the washbasin. Her stomach felt as hard as a medicine ball.
Please God, let everything be all right. Whatever trouble this child is going to cause me, please don’t let any harm come to it.
She unfastened her holster and laid her revolver on top of the waste bin. Then she unzipped her skirt and tugged down her thick black tights and her thong. To her relief she could see that she had wet herself a little, probably when the bomb went off, but that was all. She stood there massaging her stomach, her eyes closed, and gradually her muscles began to relax.
When she came out of the bathroom, carrying her holstered gun in her hand, she found Detective Inspector Inspector O’Rourke waiting for her.
‘Mother of God,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘The only lucky thing about it was that more of us weren’t killed.’
Katie sat down at her desk. She held out her hands in front of her and they were trembling uncontrollably. ‘Look at me!’ she said. ‘Still got the shakes! The worst thing about it, there was no warning at all. And it was obvious that Paddy Fearon wasn’t expecting it. But whoever planted that device, I’m seriously wondering if they knew that we were coming for him.’
‘Well, the media were tipped off, weren’t they, so what are the chances that half of Cork knew about it, too? Next time we’re planning on making an arrest perhaps we ought to cut out the middleman and announce it ourselves on Red FM.’
‘There’s no future in being bitter about it, Francis,’ said Katie. ‘We had the same problem when Bryan Molloy was in charge. The whole station was leaking highly classified information like a colander – mainly for Molloy’s financial benefit. I’m not going to let that happen again and I’m not going to tolerate any more lives lost.’
Detective Inspector O’Rourke sat down opposite her. He watched her for a moment as she tried to steady her hands and then he said, ‘When you’re suggesting that the bombers might have known that we were coming to lift Fearon, and that was why they bombed him, I think you’re thinking in the right general direction.’
‘I’m convinced that they were specifically out to get him,’ said Katie. ‘I certainly don’t believe that it was a racist attack against the Pavees in general.’
‘I agree with you, ma’am. Sure, there’s been bad blood for donkey’s years between the Travellers and the residents of the Park Court estate overlooking the halting site, but I can’t see any of those council tenants taking things that far. No – instead of asking ourselves who may have gained the most from Paddy Fearon being killed, I think we should be asking ourselves who would have lost the most if he hadn’t been. I’ve known him by reputation for years and I can tell you that he was known for ratting on people if ever he found himself in an awkward situation, like. He was lucky he didn’t get himself killed a few times before. Tómas Ó Conaill always swore that he’d a stick a chisel in him if he ever got the chance.’
‘Like he did with his pregnant girlfriend?’
‘Yes, not a pleasant feller at all, Ó Conaill. A total scumbag, in fact. He’d sell you the eye out of your own head and stab you if you couldn’t pay for it.’
Katie said, ‘I’m going to get myself a coffee. Do you want to come with me? I think that you and I share a very similar feeling about Paddy Fearon. Dooley feels the same, too. Once he found out that Dooley was the law, Fearon was a fool to himself to keep the money that he’d paid him. That meant we could arrest him and put some pressure on him and I’ll bet you anything at all that whoever killed him didn’t want him to talk to us.’
‘About those racehorses thrown off the cliff, you mean?’
‘What else? As far as we know, the only other shady dealings that Fearon was involved in were stripping copper wire from the railway and fencing stolen bicycles – hardly worth taking the risk of blowing him up for.’
They walked along the corridor towards the lifts. As they waited for one to come up from the ground floor, Katie said, ‘Think about it, Francis. There’s mega money in horse racing. In my opinion, it’s become even more urgent for us to find out who those horses originally belonged to, and why they wanted to dispose of them, and why they chose Paddy Fearon to do it. I think he got seriously out of his depth.’
‘You do realize this is all guesswork,’ said Detective Inspector O’Rourke as they joined the queue at the canteen counter. ‘It might not have been Paddy Fearon who threw them off that cliff at all, in which case we’ll have to start looking for somebody who simply wanted to blow him up.’
‘Like I say, that wouldn’t really make sense,’ said Katie. ‘And if all they had wanted to do was kill him, they would simply have knocked on his door and shot him when he answered it. This was done by somebody who really wanted to make a point. Like, if you mess with me, this is what you get. Not just pop! you’re dead – you get blown to kingdom come in a massive explosion, and two gardai get killed, too, even if that wasn’t the intention.’
She carried their coffees over to a table by the window and then she said, ‘Whoever we’re looking for, Francis, they’re not scare
d of anything. They’re not scared of the Travellers and they’re not scared of us. Blowing up Paddy Fearon’s caravan and killing two of our officers was like putting two fingers up to the world.’
‘That means that they must have one hell of a motive,’ said Detective Inspector O’Rourke.
‘Oh, yes,’ said Katie. She was feeling much steadier now and she appreciated Detective Inspector O’Rourke’s reassuring presence, but all the same she still wasn’t far away from tears.
* * *
Katie had finished her coffee and was pushing back her chair when Detective Inspector O’Rourke said, ‘Before you go, ma’am.’
‘Yes, what is it?’
His expression was serious, so Katie slowly sat down again.
‘That security meeting at Phoenix Park I went to, ma’am.’
‘What about it?’ she asked him. ‘You’re going to write me a report on it, aren’t you? And you told them all about the new screening procedures we’ve set up at Ringaskiddy and the airport?’
‘I did, of course. But I thought you ought to know that in the bar after the meeting I earwigged on a couple of conversations between some of the officers who were present. Naming no names, but if I say Limerick and Kilkenny I think you’ll get the gist of who I’m talking about.’
‘What were they saying?’
Detective Inspector O’Rourke pulled a face. ‘I couldn’t hear all of it, and because I’m stationed here in Cork now they were obviously being cautious about what they said. But Bryan Molloy has a fair amount of support from some of those fellows and I believe that you and I know why. They all had a good thing going back in the days when they called themselves the High Kings of Erin – all that dropping of charges and wiping clean the driving licences of the rich and famous. They were making some very comfortable extra income out of that, but you helped to put a stop to it. I don’t think you have any notion how much they resent you, those stonecutters. Well, apart from the fact that you’re a woman. They’d be happy to see you dead, and I’m not codding.’
Katie suddenly thought of the bullet coming through the windscreen of their car when she and Detective Horgan were driving away from Dromsligo. But then she thought, No, it couldn’t be, they wouldn’t take a chance like that. Surely it was enough for Molloy’s old cronies that she was being investigated by the Garda Ombudsman.
‘Thank you, Francis,’ she told him, laying her hand on top of his. ‘I appreciate your loyalty.’
He shrugged. ‘I’ve always said it, ma’am. If we don’t look after each other, nobody else is going to.’
* * *
Down in the squad room she met up with Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán, who was still sitting at her desk trying to trace the four remaining sisters of the Sacred Seven.
The squad room was hushed, although phones were still ringing and detectives were still tapping away at their laptops. The shock of the Spring Lane bombing had affected everybody in the whole building and there was none of the usual laughing and banter.
Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán looked up from her keyboard. ‘This is fierce difficult,’ she said. ‘I’ve checked with the General Register Office in Roscommon and Sister Grainne McNevin died eight years ago, but unless somebody failed to register their deaths the other three are still with us.’
‘Oh, okay,’ said Katie. ‘I don’t mean to be callous, but I was rather hoping they would have peacefully passed away by now.’
‘I thought I’d tracked one of them down, Sister Virginia O’Cleary. She was living with her younger sister in Rochestown but her younger sister died of the cancer and so she was moved to a rest home in Carrigaline. I’ve just tried to contact the rest home but it was closed two years ago and now it’s somebody’s private house and they don’t have any idea what happened to any of the old folks who used to live there.’
‘What about the others?’
‘Sister Nessa Bolan left the convent fifteen years ago to work with the Bon Sauveurs in Malawi. They had set up a school for children blinded by Vitamin A deficiency or measles. However, the school closed after two years because of lack of funding and I can’t find out what happened to Sister Nessa, whether she came back to Ireland or stayed in Africa. She didn’t return to the convent here in Cork.
‘Sister Aibrean Callery, she had to leave the congregation seven years ago when she developed kidney disease. She spent three months being treated at CUH but then she was discharged and so far I can’t find any record of where she went or who might have taken her.’
‘All right. Well, keep trying,’ said Katie. ‘Let’s hope that if we can’t find them, our killers can’t find them either.’
As she turned to go, Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán said, ‘Ma’am – I need to talk to you.’
‘Yes, what is it? There’s no problem, is there?’
‘Well, yes and no. Maybe this isn’t the right time.’
‘Kyna, if something’s bothering you, you should tell me about it,’ said Katie. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’
Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán raised her eyes to her and her lower lip protruded like a sad child. She looked so miserable that Katie went back across to her and laid a hand on her shoulder.
‘Kyna, what is it? Tell me.’
‘I’m thinking of applying for a transfer,’ she said. ‘Dublin, if there’s any vacancies.’
‘But why? Aren’t you happy here? Don’t tell me you’re bored with living amongst us culchies?’
Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán said, ‘No, I love it here. But that’s the trouble. I love it because of you.’
Katie took her hand away. ‘Kyna,’ she said.
‘I know. It’s insane. It’s insane and it’s impossible and there’s no way that anything is ever going to happen between us. But I can’t help it. I’ve tried to meet other women and stop thinking about you, but every day I come into the station and there you are and I’m in love with you and it hurts, and the only way I’m going to be able to stop it from hurting is if I apply for a transfer and move away and never see you again, ever.’
Detective Brennan was sitting on the opposite side of the squad room, laboriously typing with two fingers. He glanced up at Katie and Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán, but he was too far away to hear what they were saying. Katie wished she could take Kyna in her arms and hold her close and kiss her and tell her how fond she was of her, and how much she would miss her if she left, but of course she couldn’t.
‘Let’s talk about this later,’ she said. ‘Don’t go rushing off before we’ve had a chance to discuss what your options are.’
‘There are no options. Being in love is not an option. You’ve put a geis on me and there’s nothing I can do about it.’
‘I’ll meet you after, anyway, Kyna. I don’t want you being upset.’
She said nothing, but went back to her keyboard. Katie stayed beside her for a few moments and then said, ‘Smile, would you, just for me?’
Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán looked up and smiled, although her eyes were filled with tears.
* * *
By the time Katie drove up to the Bon Sauveur Convent, the sun had gone down behind the three spires of Saint Finbarr’s Cathedral in the centre of the city and it was growing grainy and dark.
When she parked, however, a dazzling array of halogen lamps were shining behind the convent chapel and lighting up the garden as if it were a sports stadium, and she could hear the hum of generators and the clanking of shovels. The car park was crowded with cars and vans from the Technical Bureau and RMR Engineering.
She walked around into the garden and found Eithne O’Neill talking to two men in yellow high-visibility jackets and hard hats. They were standing around a wide machine on wheels that resembled a lawnmower without any blades. Eithne herself was wearing a pale-blue Tyvek suit that looked as if belonged to somebody much bigger than her, and her hair was sticking up like a fledgling that had fallen out of its nest.
‘Oh, good, Detective Superintendent Maguire
,’ she said. ‘This is Stephen Murtry, the technical director of RMR, and this is his ground-radar expert, Dermot Brooke. They’re showing me what they’ve discovered under the ground so far.’
Both men shook hands with Katie. Stephen Murtry had a trim salt-and-pepper beard and horn-rimmed spectacles, and could almost have been a menswear model for the older man, while Dermot Brooke was young and overweight with florid cheeks.
‘It seems to me that you have something of a delicate situation here, Detective Superintendent,’ said Stephen, looking around. ‘Excavating a convent garden, with the nuns still in residence. At least in Galway the nuns had already sold their building and gone.’
‘Before they left, though, didn’t they, the nuns in Galway made sure that they exhumed their dear sisters who had been buried there?’ put in Eithne. ‘They gave them a fine reburial in County Mayo, with a blessing from the parish priest and all, and a memorial stone with all their names on it. Not like the bodies of all the infants they left behind, thrown into a hole like so much rubbish.’
‘Sorry – hold on for a moment, could you?’ said Stephen. ‘We need to do some adjustments if we’re going to start scanning deeper.’
He and Dermot bent over their ground-radar machine to fine-tune its frequency settings. As they did so, Katie frowned at Eithne and lifted her fingertip to her lips. She agreed with her absolutely, but however strongly they felt about the cases they were investigating, it was not the place of technical experts or rank and file gardaí to express their opinions publicly.
Stephen turned back to Katie and said, ‘So far we’ve covered only the north-west side of the lawn here, but we’ve already found two anomalies under the ground where it looks as if the soil has been disturbed by human activity. Inside both of these anomalies we’ve identified a number of objects of higher density than the surrounding soil, so I’m recommending that you bring in another contractor to dig some exploratory slit trenches.’
‘How deep are these objects buried?’ asked Katie.
‘One of the anomalies is very deep indeed and so far we’ve only managed to scan the top of it. I mean, what we have here is one of the latest ground-radar machines, the RIS-K2. It costs the thick end of a hundred thousand euros and it can detect underground anomalies up to three metres deep. But this anomaly goes a whole lot deeper than that and it’s been partially covered, too, maybe with sheets of plywood. In my opinion, whoever dug it was trying to conceal the objects they were burying for good and all.’
Blood Sisters Page 27