Lyons and Hays looked at each other and an imperceptible nod went between them.
Hays produced the two euro coin, still in its little see-through plastic box that Angela Byrne had brought back from the UK.
“This is a coin that was found in the grass in front of your uncle’s house after it had been burnt out by the Morrissey brothers on your instruction,” Hays said, knowing he was pushing it. Murphy wasn’t slow to respond.
“Now look here, Sergeant, you have absolutely no evidence that my client had anything to do with that fire, none at all. This is outrageous!”
“It’s Inspector, Mr Murphy, and I have the CCTV stills that we showed you previously, where your client,” he said looking directly at O’Shaughnessy, “purchased the mobile phone that was used to pass instructions to the Morrisseys.”
Murphy was clearly pleased that he had managed to divert attention away from the issue of the coin.
“So, as I was saying, this coin was found in the grass outside the house. We have had it forensically tested, and that test revealed a distinct thumb print from one side of the coin. That thumb print matches exactly the print that you voluntarily gave to the Gardaí in Cork, Mr O’Shaughnessy. What have you to say to that?”
Murphy chimed in again.
“Prints from a coin. Good God, I’ve heard it all now. You can’t get prints from a coin, man, that’s impossible! What nonsense is this? You really are desperate, Sergeant, aren’t you?”
“It’s Inspector, Mr Murphy.”
Lyons took the moment to intervene.
“So, you are denying that you were the last person to be in possession of this coin then, Mr O’Shaughnessy?”
O’Shaughnessy just shrugged his shoulders. Murphy came back in.
“If you are going to attempt to place my client at the scene using that coin, I want to see full details of the so called forensic tests that have been carried out on it. It all seems like science fiction to me!”
Lyons then surprised them by saying, “Let’s take an early lunch. I’m sure you’ll want to consult with your client, Mr Murphy. We’ll resume at, say, one-thirty.” She tidied up the evidence folders and stood up to leave the room.
Outside the interview room she said to Hays, “Can you continue with Eamon for a while? I’ve got something I need to do that will take about an hour.”
“Sure, no problem. Anything I should know about?”
“You’ll see,” she said, smiling.
* * *
When they resumed the questioning of Ciaran O’Shaughnessy at just after half past one, Daniel Murphy opened the discussion.
“My client would like to clarify some of the information he has previously given you, Mr Hays,” he said.
“Right, go ahead, Mr O’Shaughnessy, and by the way, Mr Murphy, it’s Inspector Hays.”
O’Shaughnessy went on to say that on the day in question he had in fact visited his uncle in Derrygimlagh. He had gone to see if his uncle would lend him some money to save his business. He knew that Paddy had the same number of Coca Cola shares that his father had left in his will, and if Paddy could just lend them to him for a few months, he would be able to pay the money back with interest.
O’Shaughnessy insisted that his uncle had been fine when he left him. As it went, Paddy had not admitted ownership of the shares, and told him that his finances were nobody’s business but his own. In any case, Paddy had told him that Ciaran would inherit whatever few bob he had when he died, and joked that that wouldn’t be too long in any case.
“So, you’re telling me that Paddy was perfectly fine when you departed?”
“Yes, of course. We parted amicably. He even asked me to come and visit him again soon, as he could get lonely living there on his own.”
“I see,” Hays said, “well that’s all very well, but the fact is that he was murdered on the very same day that you visited him. And then we have the issue of the tie tags.”
“What about them?” asked Murphy.
“We believe that the tie tags that were used to restrain Mr O’Shaughnessy, presumably before he was beaten senseless, are similar to ones that you use in your business,” he said.
“And how would you know that?” the solicitor asked.
“Let’s just say it remains to be confirmed, but I’m sure your client would have no objection to providing us with some tie wraps from his business premises for the purposes of comparison.”
“Of course, if it’s absolutely necessary, but I think you’re grasping at straws, Sergeant.”
Hays suspended the interview for a comfort break and wished he could hear what O’Shaughnessy and his solicitor were discussing in his absence. He had deliberately appeared to buy the revised story that O’Shaughnessy had dreamt up. Indeed, large parts of it were entirely true.
When Hays went back in, he advised the two that he had applied for and been granted a further twenty-four hours to question the man. Great protestation from both parties ensued, and Murphy milked it for all it was worth.
“My client has answered everything that you asked of him and we have cooperated in every way possible. This is an outrageous abuse of process. I’ll be speaking to your superiors about this directly, Sergeant,” he spluttered, his face getting redder by the minute.
Hays had to admit that he was enjoying Murphy’s apparent distress more than he should, but he didn’t show it. His response was robust.
“No, Mr Murphy. Your client has lied to us persistently until such time as we could conclusively prove that he was being untruthful. He still hasn’t told us the whole story, and as I am sure you know, we are entirely within our rights to extend the time once correct procedures have been followed, which, I can assure you, they have.”
“But I’ll have to stay over. What time are you planning to resume the interview tomorrow morning?” Murphy asked.
“Shall we say ten o’clock? And I can promise you, Galway has some very fine lodgings and excellent restaurants, so you won’t be uncomfortable for one night away from home.”
* * *
Back in the incident room Hays rejoined Lyons and they both went into his office.
“This is not looking good, Maureen. He’s got quite a convincing story all worked out. If only the place hadn’t been burnt down, we could have got DNA from whatever he used to clobber the old guy with.”
“Don’t worry, boss. I have a little surprise lined up for our Mr O’Shaughnessy that I think you’ll enjoy,” she said with a smug smile.
“Do tell.”
“All in good time, Inspector, or should I say Sergeant. All in good time.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
The interview recommenced the following morning at ten o’clock. Murphy was complaining as usual, but Hays ignored him, and Lyons just kept on giving him dirty looks. Hays focused on the meeting that O’Shaughnessy claimed to have had with his uncle.
“Can you remember exactly how the conversation went between you?” he asked.
“Well no, not exactly, but I remember the gist of it.”
Hays made O’Shaughnessy repeat the account of the meeting, hoping the man would slip up or contradict himself in some way. At twenty past ten, Eamon Flynn entered the room and asked to speak to Maureen Lyons outside for a moment. A few minutes later she came back in and sat down. Hays looked at her, encouraging her to speak.
“Mr O’Shaughnessy, I have just been informed that your bank has appointed a receiver to your business, ITOS Limited. Your staff have been asked to continue with their work for the time being, but your bank accounts are now frozen, pending transfer of power of attorney to the receivers. It’s been made clear that if you propose to re-enter the building, you should do so by appointment with them. The locks have been changed, and the receiver has requested the return of your BMW which is, I believe, a company asset.”
A stunned silence filled the room. Colour drained from the suspect’s face. The solicitor was, for once, speechless, no doubt shifting his concern to his la
vish fee which must by now be in question. Neither of the two detectives uttered a word.
O’Shaughnessy’s eyes filled with tears. He put his hands to his face and leant forward, supporting the weight of his head with his elbows on the table.
“Oh no, oh no,” he sniffed, “I didn’t mean to kill him. I just…”
“I strongly advise you not to say anything more, Mr O’Shaughnessy,” Daniel Murphy interjected, putting his hand on his client’s forearm.
“If he had just handed the bloody shares over. But he kept saying he didn’t have them, and I was desperate, you see. McInerney had threatened me, I needed the money to save my skin.”
“Really, Ciaran, please, for your own…”
“Oh shut up, Daniel. You’ve done enough already. Getting hold of the shares was your idea in the first place. Just shut up, will you?”
O’Shaughnessy went on to describe how he had tied Paddy to his chair using tie wraps from his car, and then searched the little house for the shares certificates. Paddy was shouting at him, calling him names, and he just lost it. He whacked him with something from the fireplace and the old man went quiet. He kept on searching the house but found nothing, and then he realized that the old man had died.
Yes, it was him in the internet café. Yes, it was him in the Meteor shop buying the pay as you go phone.
* * *
When they returned to the incident room, the word had got out. Plunkett had come down from on high with a fresh bottle of Jameson Crested Ten whiskey, and congratulations were handed out all round.
“What will we do with the bent solicitor?” Hays asked.
“I’ll have a word with the folks in Cork. We’ll let them take care of him,” Plunkett said.
“And as for you, Maureen Lyons, you little minx!” Hays said, smiling broadly.
“What? What did I do?” She smiled back.
“How did you get the bank to act so quickly?” he asked.
“Connections, sir. When my connection heard that their client was being questioned about a murder, and could be involved with moneylenders, they couldn’t wait to get in there and preserve whatever assets they could get their hands on.”
“Well, clearly that’s what swung it. We’ll make a detective out of you yet, Sergeant Lyons!” he said, putting his arm around her shoulder and clinking glasses with her.
Chapter Thirty-nine
O’Shaughnessy was brought before the courts on the charge of murder. He was remanded in custody, as, with his business finished, he was considered a realistic flight risk. While on remand, he was severely beaten by some of McInerney’s associates, as the money lender saw little prospect of recovering the substantial sums he was owed, and he needed to send out a message to his other debtors.
The receiver kept the business going, because despite the large debts, the importance of some of the contracts that ITOS had with various government departments, including some functions within the Garda Siochána itself, meant that it couldn’t just be shut down. Eventually, it was sold for quite a good price to a large I.T. company, and the creditors got a substantial amount of their money back. Except for McInerney, of course.
O’Shaughnessy eventually agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter of his uncle, and as he probably didn’t set out to murder him on that fateful day, the Gardaí were happy to settle for that. When he came before the courts again, he was given ten years. He was moved to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin for his own safety, but he still could not escape McInerney’s contacts, and was attacked regularly by other inmates and badly beaten.
The Gardaí in Cork tried a number of different approaches to discover what part Murphy had played in the O’Shaughnessy case. But however hard they tried, they could get no hard evidence of wrong-doing. He had certainly been up to no good, but he was slippery, and had covered his tracks well. He continued to practice in Cork.
When the drug squad got hold of Kelly, they slowly uncovered a web of criminality which led them to the arrest of a whole team of dealers and pushers in the Galway area. Kelly had been using his business as a cover for drug dealing and money laundering, and eventually the drug squad discovered over 100,000 euro that they could link to him in one way or another.
He was brought before the courts and received a sentence of eight years. The house in Shantalla Road, which turned out to be his own, continued to decay, and is unoccupied to this day.
Following the success of this difficult case, Superintendent Plunkett wasted no time in exploiting the team’s achievement. He put his plans to extend the major incident investigation team into practice and made the changes that he had envisaged. His idea to create the role of Senior Inspector, akin to the grade of ‘Detective Chief Inspector’ in Britain, caught on, and was adopted by other regions who wanted to promote and reward successful detectives. He even managed to get a supplementary allowance for the role, which created clear space between a mere inspector and the new position. He also got approval to expand Hays’ team.
After the arrest, Maureen took a few days off. She spent the two bank holiday weekends that came in early May and early June over at Hays’ house doing the place up with him. They got new carpets downstairs, painted all the woodwork, changed the old tired sofa in the lounge for a fresh new one, and inspired by the overhaul, Hays even ordered a new kitchen. When they had finished the house was totally transformed, and no longer had the appearance of a somewhat slovenly bachelor’s pad.
Of course, Maureen wouldn’t hear of taking any money for her efforts, so Hays took himself into Galway one day on the pretext of getting some more paint for the front door, went to Hartmans the jewellers, and bought her an exquisite and very expensive Rotary gold watch. She cried when he gave it to her. No one had ever been that generous to her before.
Later that year, egged on by Hays, Plunkett and the rest of the team, Maureen took her inspector’s exams and passed with exceptional grades. Plunkett was able to give her the inspector’s post that had been vacated when Hays was made up, and her promotion was warmly welcomed, and extensively celebrated, by the entire station. Maureen became the first female detective inspector in the western region, which marked a turning point for the force in terms of gender balance.
Eamon was promoted to detective sergeant in line with the other promotions, so he took over Maureen’s place in the pecking order.
John elected to stay in uniform and felt it was too early for him to apply for promotion. He was happy to continue assisting the team with their technology. He was becoming quite a wizard with the PC and wasn’t beyond a bit of discreet hacking to unlock a thorny case when the occasion demanded.
Sally applied for and was accepted into Templemore on the strength of a glowing recommendation from Hays, countersigned by the superintendent. She emerged from training looking stunning in her new uniform, and the rest of the team went to her passing out parade to help her celebrate.
When she had completed her probation, Hays asked her if she would like to join the detective unit in Galway, and she readily accepted. She became Detective Garda Sally Fahy, complete with warrant card, and wore the title with pride.
List of Characters
Mary Drinan – the portly district nurse who is under pressure to see all her patients as frequently as their needs require but is too busy to do her job properly. Mary is a kindly person but feels exploited by the Health Authority.
Paddy O’Shaughnessy – a lonely bachelor who lives in a semi-dilapidated cottage in a remote part of Connemara. He’s too old and infirm to drive any longer, so he lives in solitude, and relies on the generosity of neighbours to get into town a few times a week.
Detective Inspector Mick Hays – the senior officer in the Galway Detective Unit with many years’ experience in crime detection. A confirmed bachelor, Hays is building a strong team in anticipation of an expansion of the unit in the near future.
Detective Sergeant Maureen Lyons – Hays’ ‘bagman’ in Galway, Maureen is constantly trying to prove herself while wr
estling with loneliness in her private life. A feisty, ambitious and tough woman with powerful instincts who has a knack of being in the right place at the right time.
Detective Garda Eamon Flynn – known for his tenacity, Flynn wanted to work as a detective since he was a small boy. He develops his skill while working on the case and proves invaluable handling some tricky customers.
Garda John O’Connor – the nerdy and modest junior member of the team is a technical wizard. He loves working with PC’s, mobile phones, cameras and anything electronic.
Sergeant Séan Mulholland – happy to take it easy in the quiet backwater of Clifden, Mulholland could have retired by now, but enjoys the status that the job affords him. Not to be hurried, he runs the Garda Station at a gentle pace.
Garda Jim Dolan – works alongside Mulholland and has little ambition to do anything else.
Pat Dineen – a hardened Detective Inspector used to dealing with tough Limerick criminals, and a friend of Mick Hays.
Superintendent Finbarr Plunkett – a wily old hand in the Garda Siochána, he knows how to play the media and the commissioner to ensure that he’s allowed to do more or less what he wants in Galway. He takes a very expedient approach to problem solving.
Sally Fahy – a civilian worker with the Gardaí, Sally has aspirations to become a Garda herself, as she is fascinated by the work that she sees going on all around her but is concerned about how young women might be treated in the force.
Ciaran O’Shaughnessy – runs his own I.T. company in Cork and is Paddy O’Shaughnessy’s nephew. He is a clever man, with a very deep knowledge of all matters related to computers, but isn’t as smart when it comes to business acumen.
Jazz and Dingo Morrissey – two brothers from the criminal underworld who are not as clever as they think they are. These two will do anything for a few pounds as long as it’s in hard cash.
The Galway Homicides Box Set Page 28