Living Death (57 page)
Authors: Graham Masterton
Katie still faced an enquiry into the suicide of Assistant Commissioner O’Reilly, and she had handed in her revolver until an investigation had been completed into the shooting of Lorcan Fitzgerald.
‘You’ve been through a fierce difficult time, Katie,’ said Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin, as she went to his office door. She could feel how much he wanted to put his arm around her, and give her a reassuring hug. ‘You have a couple of weeks of time off owing to you, don’t you? Why don’t you take it?’
‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘Let me bury John first. There’s nobody else to do it.’
She went up to her office, and to her surprise, Kyna was there, drinking coffee and talking to Moirin.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Kyna. ‘Moirin fetched this coffee for you, but we didn’t know how long you’d be.’
Moirin stood up and said, ‘I’ll get you another one. It’s no bother.’
When she had gone, Katie held Kyna tightly and they kissed.
‘From what Moirin told me, it sounds like you’ve been through hell and back,’ said Kyna.
‘I’m not sure I’m back yet. Do you know when you’re starting?’
‘Monday. Believe it or not, I can’t wait.’
‘There’s one thing you have to know,’ said Katie, sitting down at her desk. ‘This pet detective I’ve been working with, Conor. Well – we’ve become very close.’
‘Oh, yes?’ said Kyna. ‘How close is very close?’
‘Let’s just say that if he asked me—’
‘You’d marry him?’
‘I’m not sure I want to get married again. Not yet, anyway. But I wouldn’t say no if he suggested that we move in together.’
Kyna raised her eyebrows and turned her head to look out of the window. The sun was shining on the Elysian tower, it reflected on to her face.
‘Kyna—’ said Katie. ‘If working here again is going to be painful for you—’
‘No, no. Not at all,’ said Kyna, turning around again and smiling. ‘I’ve told you before. I’ve thought about this over and over. I’ve thought about us. I’ve thought about my feelings for you, and I can cope.’
‘You’ll find somebody else. I’m sure of it.’
‘Yes, I probably will,’ said Kyna. ‘It’s a little sad, though. It doesn’t matter how pretty she is, this somebody else, or how lovable, she’ll never be Katie Maguire.’
*
Just after 4:00 pm she decided to call it a day. She told Moirin that she could leave early, too, and then she rang Conor and asked him if he would like to go for a drink with her. She needed to sit down with him and talk about everything that had happened yesterday at Bartley Doran’s farm. He had seen John’s body in the back of the ambulance, but she hadn’t wanted to look, and now she wished that she had.
Conor agreed to come down to the city and meet her at the Long Valley.
‘I think I need to talk it all over, too,’ he told her. ‘I had a nightmare last night about those pit-bulls looking up at me and then their heads blowing up.’
Katie put on her coat but then her phone rang. It was Detective Ó Doibhilin, and he sounded serious.
‘It’s Keeno,’ he said. ‘He passed away about twenty minutes ago. Aortic embolism, that’s what the doctor told me.’
‘All right, Michael,’ said Katie. ‘Thanks for telling me.’
‘They won’t blame you for killing him, will they? I mean, it was self-defence, like, wasn’t it?’
‘It depends what the coroner has to say.’
‘I would have been perfectly happy to kick his head in, myself.’
‘I know. But it’s not up to us to be the judges. Nor the executioners, either.’
Wearily, she put down the phone, checked in her handbag to see that she had everything she needed, switched off her office lights and went downstairs. It occurred to her as she went down in the lift that if ever she wanted to spend a night with Conor, she wouldn’t have to worry about going home and looking after John. It made her feel guilty, thinking that, but she also couldn’t help feeling relieved.
As she crossed the reception area towards the main doors she saw a tall, handsome woman in a camelhair coat waiting by the front desk. The officer behind the desk was engaged in what looked like a long phone conversation, nodding and writing down notes.
Katie went up to the woman and said, ‘Can I help you?’
The woman smiled. Katie guessed that she was about forty, but her make-up was immaculate and she had striking blue eyes, slightly starey, as if she was wearing contact lenses, and blue enamel earrings.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m looking for Conor Ó Máille.’
Katie said, ‘He’s not here at the moment, I’m afraid, and he won’t be here for the rest of today. Do you want me to tell him who called?’
‘That’s kind of you, yes,’ said the woman. ‘I’m his wife.’
We hope you enjoyed this book!
The Drowned: A Katie Maguire Short Story
is coming in summer 2016
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The next book in the Katie Maguire series will be released in winter 2016
For more information, click the following links
G
RAHAM
M
ASTERTON
was a bestselling horror writer for many years before he turned his talent to crime. He lived in Cork for five years, an experience that inspired the Katie Maguire series.
Katie Maguire was one of seven sisters born to a police Inspector in Cork, but the only sister who decided to follow her father and join An Garda Siochana. With her bright green eyes and short red hair, she looks like an Irish pixie, but she is no soft touch. To the dismay of some of her male subordinates, she rose quickly through the ranks, gaining a reputation for catching Cork’s killers, often at great personal cost. Katie spent seven years in a turbulent marriage with builder Paul Maguire, with whom she bore, and lost, a son. She is now in a long-distance relationship with Irish-American John Meagher.
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