Brian McGilloway - Gallows Lane

‘What’s the good?’

‘We matched his prints with the one from Decko’s, which places him there as well.’

‘And the bad?’ I said.

Dempsey shook his head. ‘It might not make any difference,’ he explained. It turned out that his psychiatric evaluation hadn’t gone quite as we’d wanted it to. The psychiatrist who assessed him decided that he had acted while under the influence of steroids. These had induced a state of ’roid rage, which, while it didn’t exonerate him from all responsibility, certainly did raise concerns about whether he could have been considered compos mentis.

A representative from the DPP’s office had already been in touch with Dempsey. ‘They’re aiming for ten years at best, because of the diminished responsibility claim.’

‘Ten years,’ I said. ‘You’re fucking kidding me.’

‘Ten years max,’ Dempsey said. ‘Probably out in five if he cleans up his act.’

‘You’re not going to accept that, are you?’

Dempsey shrugged, as if it were out of his hands. ‘It’s with the Prosecutor now,’ he said.

‘Five years,’ I repeated, incredulously.

Dempsey nodded his head.

After Dempsey left, Debbie and I cleaned up and went to bed. But I could not sleep. Something gnawed at the back of my mind, something not right with regard to McLaughlin.

I went back downstairs and sat at the back door, having a smoke, while Frank watched me and whined slightly in disgust.

As I stood there, I noticed Dempsey had forgotten the file on McLaughlin. I lifted it and flicked through the notes.

Name, address, date of birth. As I read through the notes, I became aware of what had troubled me; the most obvious detail: Date of birth: 6February 1984. McLaughlin would have been eleven years old when Castlederg Post Office was robbed. He wasn’t the fourth gang member, which meant he had no reason to kill Jamie Kerr and Decko, unless someone had told him to. His sister, maybe — but surely Jamie Kerr would have recognized a woman as one of the four gang members. Which meant someone else had instructed him; the same person who was, perhaps, letting Danny McLaughlin take his fall over all the killings associated with the Kerr case. The boy was going to do time somewhere over the attacks on the girls; what had he to lose?

My entering his room woke McLaughlin from sleep. He sat up awkwardly in the bed, lifting his mobile phone from the bedside cabinet before squinting at the display to check the time. He looked slightly dazed.

‘You can’t do this,’ he said. ‘I want my lawyer.’

‘No lawyers, Daniel,’ I said. ‘Just a quick chat.’

‘What the fuck? Oi! Who’s out there?’ he shouted, presumably to the uniform who should have been outside the door.

‘No one’s there, Danny,’ I said. ‘I told them to get a cup of tea. Said I’d keep you company for a while.’

He looked at me askance. ‘What do you want? My psychiatrist said I’m not to be disturbed.’

‘I thought you already were.’

‘What?’ he asked, looking for the insult in my comment.

‘You’re too young to have done Castlederg, Danny. You’d have been eleven. Isn’t that right?’

He stared at me, his mouth slightly agape. ‘I never said I did.’

‘No, that’s true,’ I agreed. ‘But then, why would you kill Jamie Kerr? He was no threat to you; he wanted to forgive the other gang members. Do you see where this is going?’

‘I have nothing to say to you,’ McLaughlin said. ‘Get out of my room.’

‘Take it easy, big lad,’ I said, sensing he was getting angry. ‘I’m not trying to trick you. I’m worried about you.’

‘Worried about me,’ he snorted. ‘What for?’

‘The way I see it, there were four in the Castlederg gang, including Jamie Kerr. Kerr knew your brother-in-law was one of them. He confronted him, and then he was found hanging. Jamie spotted Decko while he was at your sister’s house and recognized him from the acne scars. He arranged to meet with Decko and the other member. Kerr was crucified by you,’ I waved away his attempt to protest and continued. ‘And then Decko was shot in his back yard after being questioned by us. That leaves you, Danny — but you’re too young. Someone has been getting you to do their dirty work. Isn’t that right?’

‘Fuck you,’ he spat.

‘I’ll take that as a yes, then,’ I retorted. ‘The thing is, Danny, this person has been doing a cracking job of cleaning up after themselves. No one connected with them, or who could identify them, has survived. Except you.’ I allowed a pause for the message to hit home. ‘For now.’

McLaughlin shifted in the bed, narrowing his glare with suspicion.

‘Do you really think whoever he is, he’s going to let you sit here, or in whatever jail they put you in, knowing that you could rat him out? You’re on borrowed time, Danny,’ I said. ‘Don’t kid yourself that you’re not.’

McLaughlin raised himself up on the bed, using one arm.

‘Is that it?’ he snorted. ‘Piss away off

‘It was worth a try, Danny,’ I said. ‘Bear in mind, though — every time that door opens, it could be your friend, coming to pay his respects. Don’t be someone else’s sucker.’

‘Don’t be a prick,’ he retorted, then lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

I left the room without looking back at him. I hadn’t really believed that McLaughlin would confess to me. But by turning the screws, I hoped at least to make him a little less trusting in whoever he was working for.

Outside his room, I looked for the uniform I had sent to the canteen for a break. I suddenly felt very tired and, suspecting he wouldn’t be too much longer, I went out to the squad car and drove home.

Saturday, 19 June

I woke at around six-thirty the following morning to someone banging at our front door. I rushed downstairs before the noise should wake the kids and peered out the window to see who was outside before opening the door. Dempsey stood back from the door, looking up towards the bedroom windows.

‘Get dressed,’ he snapped, when I opened the door.

‘What?’ I said, not quite able to process what was happening.

‘You’re lucky I’m not arresting you,’ he said. ‘Get dressed.’

‘Arresting me for what?’ I said, immediately thinking of my actions involving Decko’s car. Surely not.

‘Danny McLaughlin was murdered last night,’ he stated. ‘And you were the last in his room.’

‘What?’ I spluttered.

‘Somebody cut his throat,’ Dempsey said. ‘Now get dressed and you can tell me on the way why you were there last night on your own.’

On the way to Letterkenny, I explained everything: my deduction, based on his age, that McLaughlin wasn’t part of the Castlederg gang, and my suspicions that someone was using him as a fall guy. I told him how I had turned the screws on McLaughlin by suggesting his paymaster might try to clear him off the board. And I explained that he hadn’t so much as broken sweat.

‘When you left, was the Guard at his door?’ Dempsey asked.

I felt more than a little ashamed. ‘No, he went for a cup of tea; I expected he wouldn’t be long.’

‘He fell asleep in the canteen. A cleaner woke him at four in the morning. By that stage, McLaughlin was already dead. A night nurse found him before your uniform even made it back to the room.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I stammered.

‘Sorry might not be enough on this one,’ Dempsey said.

When we arrived at the hospital, Deegan was standing in the foyer, bouncing excitedly.

‘We’ve just got someone, sir,’ he said to Dempsey as we approached the doors. ‘Just caught him on the grounds; still had the knife in his pocket. We’ve got him over here.’