Taken for Dead (Kate Maguire) (51 page)

‘But stall there for a minute,’ said Inspector Fennessy. ‘If what you’re saying is true, why didn’t the Duggans come out with all this before?’

‘Only one reason I can think of,’ said Katie. ‘
They
had probably been paying some of those bribes themselves, to escape whatever they’d been charged with, and if they blew the whistle on the High Kings of Erin they would have been rearrested.’

Inspector Fennessy stood up and walked to the window. It was raining again. He took off his glasses and chewed at the end of them.

‘What you’ve just told me, ma’am, Jesus. You’ve placed me in a savage awkward situation here. You’re suspended, like, but now you’ve come in and accused the officer who suspended you of turning a blind eye to kidnap and extortion and murder – including two gardaí getting killed.’

Katie stood watching him for a while.

‘It’s your decision, Liam. And I’m not just talking about Molloy. I believe this goes further up the ladder. I’ve been given information that Jimmy O’Reilly was one of the original High Kings of Erin, too.’

‘Holy Mary, Mother of God,’ said Inspector Fennessy. ‘This doesn’t get any better, does it?’

‘No, it doesn’t. And it could get worse. Judging by their past records, it’s conceivable that O’Reilly and Molloy are not only aiding and abetting these kidnaps, but taking a cut of the proceeds. Molloy’s so-called consultancy has a very healthy annual income. Some of it comes from Crossagalla Groundworks, as we know, but it would be very interesting to discover where the rest of it originates.’

Katie didn’t mention Kilshane Tarmac or the company’s connection with Crossagalla Groundworks, but she did say, ‘One more thing. Molloy’s consultancy calls itself Flathead Consultants and “Flathead” was one of the High Kings of Erin.’

Inspector Fennessy was about to say something when there was a rap at the door and Superintendent MacCostagáin came back in. ‘That fecking hand-dryer!’ he complained. ‘It’s worse than a fecking force ten gale! Good thing I don’t wear a wig or it would have blown clear across the toilet and out the fecking window! Then somebody could have taken a potshot at it, thinking it was a crow!’’

He waited for Katie and Inspector Fennessy to laugh, but they both remained serious. Katie said to Inspector Fennessy, ‘I’m not in a position to tell you what to do next, Liam. But if I were you, I’d listen to Kyna’s phone call before I decided what action I was going to take.’

With that, she nodded to Superintendent MacCostagáin and left the office. She met only two gardaí on the way out of the station and both of them muttered, ‘
Ma’am
,’ but averted their eyes, as if they had passed a ghost in the corridor.

Katie drove home. There was nothing else she could do. She could only hope that Liam Fennessy had taken her seriously enough to listen to the phone call that was supposed to have come from Pat Whelan, and that he would either cancel the handover of the ransom money or spring a trap that would catch whoever came to collect it.

She had never felt so frustrated in the whole of her career. The more she found out about the High Kings of Erin, both past and present, the more confident she was that she could be very close to making some spectacular arrests. She was aware how devastating it would be for An Garda Síochána if Acting Chief Superintendent Molloy really was embroiled with the Duggans, and she was also aware that she would probably be the least popular officer in the entire force if she were to expose him.

But she saw this investigation as a crusade – a crusade to find justice for Garda Brenda McCracken and Detective Garda Nessa Goold, as well as the Pearses, Norman and Meryl, and Micky Crounan, and Derek Hagerty.

If she became a pariah, then so be it. At least she would have upheld the oath she had sworn when she became a garda – and she would have avenged her father’s dismissal, too, even if it was fifteen years too late.

The rain stopped and the sun came out as she arrived home. David’s Range Rover was parked in the driveway next door and there was smoke coming out of his chimney. She had thought of going to talk to him and trying to persuade him to withdraw his complaint against her, but she knew that he would simply take that as sexual surrender. She knew that the price she would have to pay for having her suspension lifted would be unwilling intercourse.

After she had hung up her raincoat she took two pairs of latex evidence gloves out of the inside pocket. She went into the living-room and laid the brown padded envelope that Jilleen had given her down on the coffee table. Then she went through to the kitchen to open the back door so that Barney could go outside. She filled the kettle and switched it on, although she didn’t really feel like a cup of tea. These past two or three days, she hadn’t known what she fancied to eat and drink, although she couldn’t stop thinking about pepperoni pizza which she usually hated.

She sat down on the couch in the living room and pulled on both pairs of evidence gloves before she tipped up the envelope and let the pistol slide out. A double thickness of latex would prevent any of her own DNA contaminating whatever DNA might still be found on it, if any.

She had correctly identified the pistol when she first glimpsed it in the Cauldron bar. It was a SIG Sauer 226, a heavy, full-sized semi-automatic that was issued to the armed response units of An Garda Síochána. Turning it over, she saw that the identification numbers had been filed off. That was no problem; it was almost always possible to restore the original numbers by chemical etching with Fry’s reagent or by sprinkling with Magnaflux magnetized filings. The numbers would show if the pistol had been taken from a Garda armoury or if it was a stray weapon that had come off the street. If it had been taken from a Garda armoury, it would be easy to find out which one and who had last signed for it.

Katie had to assume that Limerick’s crime-scene examiners would have kept the bullets that were taken from Niall Duggan’s body, and any ejected cartridge cases that had been lying around, so long as Donie Quaid hadn’t stopped to pick them up. If they had, this gun could be positively matched to Niall Duggan’s murder.

She slid out the magazine and was surprised to see that it was still loaded. It was designed to take ten 9mm rounds and there were seven left.

She put the gun back into the envelope and sat back on the couch. Everything that had happened to her in the past few days was churning round and round in her head like multicoloured clothes in a washing machine. She kept hearing Jimmy O’Reilly saying to her, ‘
You can’t promote officers beyond their level of competence just because they happen to have a bosom
,’ and she kept seeing Bryan Molloy behind him, smirking. She saw Jilleen walking down Nicholas Street blowing out smoke and she thought she could still smell her overpowering perfume. She saw Kyna looking pretty with her short blonde hair, but anxious-eyed, and Liam standing by the window, indecisively chewing on his glasses.

She closed her eyes. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

***

Her doorbell chimed. She opened her eyes and looked around her. The living room was gloomy now because the sun had disappeared behind the clouds again. She checked her watch and saw that it was 3.27. She had been sleeping for almost an hour.

The doorbell chimed again and this time Barney barked twice. He was still in the back yard and she would have to let him in. First, though, she got up from the couch and went into the hallway and called out, ‘Yes? Who is it?’

‘Delivery,’ said a young man’s throaty voice.

‘Delivery from whom? I’m not expecting anything.’

‘It’s from the Garda station. They said it was urgent.’

‘Okay. Hold on a minute.’

She thought, I know what it is. All the official documents relating to my suspension. Probably a caution, too, that I am not permitted to enter the premises at Anglesea Street or to engage in any discussions with other officers regarding ongoing investigations. Thank you, Jimmy O’Reilly. Thank you, Bryan Molloy. And most of all, thank you, David Kane.

She opened the front door. It was raining very softly, which made a prickling sound in the bushes. A young man was standing on the steps that led up to the porch – a young man with carroty-coloured curls and a face as pale as candle wax. He was wearing a brown trilby hat and a long trench coat with a tight belt around the waist.

Not far behind him, standing next to Katie’s car, was a young woman who must have been the man’s twin. She, too, had carroty-coloured hair, but much thicker and longer, whole bunches of carrots; but she, too, had a waxy-pale face, although her false eyelashes were black with mascara, so that her eyes looked like two spiders. She was wearing a yellow raincoat with a hood.

By the front gate an older man in an old-fashioned black rubber raincoat was standing, smoking a cigarette. His face was rough and reddish, and he looked like the sort of fellow you might see sleeping drunk in a doorway on Maylor Street.

‘Detective Superintendent Maguire, how are you?’ said the young man, smiling.

‘Aengus and Ruari Duggan,’ said Katie.

‘Oh, you recognize us?’

‘I’ve seen enough mugshots of you. Why wouldn’t I? What do you want?’

Aengus Duggan turned around to smile at Ruari and then turned back again. ‘I think it would be preferable for all concerned if we say what we have to say to you indoors. Won’t you invite us in?’

Katie had already noticed that Aengus had his hand in his right-hand raincoat pocket and that there was a lumpy shape inside it which was almost certainly a pistol. He had noticed that she had noticed, too, and that was possibly one of the reasons why he was smiling.

‘Who’s that?’ she said, pointing towards the man smoking by the gate. ‘That’s never Lorcan Devitt, is it?’

‘Oh, you’re good,’ said Aengus. ‘That’s Lorcan all right.’

‘Time hasn’t been very kind to him, has it?’ said Katie, narrowing her eyes so that she could see him better. ‘We need to update his mugshot and no mistake.’

‘Lorcan!’ called out Aengus. ‘Detective Superintendent Maguire says you look like a cream cracker!’

Lorcan didn’t answer, only laughed and coughed.

‘Well, let’s be going in, shall we?’ said Aengus. ‘Wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbours, nice posh street like this.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Katie. She could feel her heart beating hard and a crawling sensation up her back. She was trying to work out if she could step back and slam the front door shut before Aengus could pull out his pistol and shoot at her. The door wasn’t bulletproof, but if she threw herself backwards on to the floor she might be able to escape being hit.

‘Come on, now,’ said Aengus, climbing the first step up to the porch. ‘There’s no point at all in your being difficult about this, like. It would only make things more unpleasant for all of us.’

Katie said, ‘Don’t you come any closer,’ although she had no idea at all how she could stop him.

Aengus was about to reply when they heard a door slam and David Kane appeared from next door, zipping up a long khaki waterproof jacket. He looked at Katie and then he looked at Aengus and Ruari Duggan, and then at Lorcan Devitt.

He stopped and said, ‘Oh. You have visitors. I’ll come back later.’

Katie said nothing, but mutely shook her head and stared wide-eyed at David as if to warn him, these aren’t visitors, these are three highly dangerous criminals.

David had been half turning away, but then he caught Katie’s look and looked again at the Duggans, and said, ‘What? What is it? These people aren’t giving you any bother, are they?’

‘Just hop off, will you, boy?’ said Aengus, in his harsh, high-pitched voice.

David walked towards Aengus and said, ‘Excuse me. What did you just say to me?’

‘I told you to fecking hop off, so hop off, unless you want another shiner to match the one you’ve got already.’

Katie took advantage of the momentary face-off between them to step back into her doorway and make a grab for the door, but her heel caught on the mat and she stumbled. Without any hesitation Aengus yanked out his pistol from his raincoat pocket.

What happened next seemed like an action replay, in slow motion. Aengus pointed his pistol at her and cocked it, but as he did so David bounded on to the porch and threw himself in front of her, with both his arms flung up like a goalie trying to save a penalty.

Katie tumbled backwards on to the floor, with David on top of her. She heard a sharp crack, and then another, and another, and the side of her face was splashed with warm blood and brains and splinters of bone. She kicked herself backwards, once, and then again, and managed to force herself out from underneath David’s body.

She had a blurry split-second glimpse of Aengus’s carroty-curled hair and his waxy-white face as he stalked towards the front door, but she twisted herself around and scrambled on all fours into the living room. She picked up the SIG Sauer from the coffee table, thumbed off the safety catch and rolled on to her back, holding it with both hands and aiming it at the living-room doorway.

Aengus appeared in the doorway almost at once, holding his pistol so that it was pointing upwards. Katie fired once, and the bang was so loud that she felt as if somebody had boxed her ears. Aengus fell sideways into the hallway, his head towards the front door, but now she could only see his legs. Outside, Ruari shrilled out, ‘Aengus!
Aengus
!’

Katie climbed to her feet and stepped cautiously sideways, crouching down with her gun held stiffly out in front of her. She knew that she had hit Aengus, but she had no way of telling how seriously he was hurt. He still had his pistol, and if she went out into the hallway he might fire back at her. Not only that, Ruari could well be armed, too, and so could Lorcan Devitt.

She was still approaching the doorway when she heard Ruari coming into the house. ‘
Aengus
!’ she shrieked. ‘
Oh, Aengus
!
Mother of God, Aengus
!
Look at the state of you
!’

It sounded as if Aengus was badly wounded, so Katie took a deep breath and stepped out of the living room. David’s body was lying diagonally across the hallway and Aengus was lying halfway on top of him. He had dropped his pistol on to the carpet. His face was even whiter than before and there was blood sliding out of the side of his open mouth, but his eyes were open, even though his eyelids were flickering, and he was breathing. Ruari was kneeling on the doormat and leaning over him, stroking and tugging at his carroty curls.