John Brady - A Carra ring

Minogue studied the list for several moments.

“This message there, you have it under voice mail.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s just force of habit. I’d take Aoife’s messages off her voice mail and put them on slips. I’m in the habit of dumping them as soon as I have them on paper. The paper version — well, you can see yourself.”

“It’s just a question mark,” he said.

“Oh, I know, I know. Don’t talk to me about it. I feel so stupid about it. I remember saying to myself, God, you iijit, how will Aoife even know if she can’t hear the voice herself! The things you do!”

“You say it was a man. Irish?”

“Definitely.”

“Heard him before?”

“It sounded familiar, you know? But like a lot you hear, I suppose every accent… Sorry. It’s just a stupid thing.”

“Ah, you’re all right. Would you recognize it again?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I could try, I suppose.”

“Do you recall the exact words, the phrasing maybe?”

“No. But he’d have been bouncing from Aoife’s voice mail. If you wanted to speak to someone in the office itself you’d hit a three.”

“Is that announced?”

“It is ”

“Is the date right?”

“Definitely. At least I did that part right.”

Minogue looked up. A kid really, face full of freckles under a red mop.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself now,” he said. “We’ll do the best we can and that’ll be good enough.”

He returned to the list of her appointments in the days before she left. When he looked up again, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“Here, will you change your mind about the tea? Ah, do — come on now ”

She shook her head.

“That was Aoife,” she whispered. “Just like what you said.”

“Not the tea, is it…?”

“No, no. That kind of attitude, that you’re all right. That your best is good enough. That they accept you for what you are. Old-fashioned, maybe.”

Minogue smiled. He waited.

“Maybe it’s country people, I don’t know,” she said. “Always the good word for people under her. But she could be so hard on herself…! She knew what way I’d come up. With Tony in and out of jail, I thought I’d never get anywhere — and Tony a mechanic making good money until it all went in his… ”

“Your husband?”

She nodded.

“He’s off in England or somewhere. I got a barring order and all. There’s just me and Ronan now. Things are so bad nowadays. Like they say, ‘giving your baby a shot in the arm…’”

“You think they’re better than the Works?”

Her brow lifted.

“What? GOD? You know about them?”

“’Course I do. What do you take me for, a middle-aged culchie Guard?”

Her eyes twinkled. He kept the put-upon look, but allowed a smile to creep in.

“They’re the best,” she said. “GOD. They’re real, like.”

She frowned then and her eyes went dully to the papers on the desk.

“Larry Smith,” she murmured. Minogue tried to hide his surprise.

“His mob,” she went on. “Tony used to fix cars… Yous probably know more about Larry Smith than I do.”

“I haven’t had to live with the results of his doings ”

“Don’t get me wrong — I’m no big fan of the Guards. But I don’t have it in for them either, the way some people have. And if it was a Guard who did away with…”

Her eyes went to the window again.

“Dublin’s changed, so it is,” she murmured. “Like you wouldn’t believe.” His eyes went from studying her profile and trying to finish her sentence to staring at the window himself now. Where would Iseult and Pat and the baby live? They couldn’t stay in that kippy flat. He wrenched himself back.

“If you’re ready to lead me through your list there… ”

She seemed equally surprised to be back in the present. He took few notes. He was aware of her watching him write. He let her ramble several times before drawing her back to specifics.

“She seems to have been a busy person lately.”

“Oh, she was,” Eileen Brogan said “Even after she came back from the time off She always… ”

Minogue watched her rubbing more tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Sorry, I can’t seem to stop it.”

He stood and walked to the doorway It was Garland who caught his eye.

“Where would we get tea, if you please?”

He turned back, looked around the room when he heard the phone. His own, and he’d forgotten where he’d put it. Eileen Brogan pointed it out to him.

It was Tony O’Leary. could he phone Tynan’s office from a desk phone. Minogue framed a reply and quickly squelched it. Tynan picked up the phone before the first ring finished.

“Can you tell me anything, Matt?”

Minogue waited for a count of three

“Hello, John,” he said, “and how are you and yours this fine morning?”

“Excuse me. I have a call waiting, that’s the hurry. Can you talk?”

“I can. I’m following up on Aoife Hartnett”

He turned back to Eileen Brogan

“A moment while I get a quiet spot ”

Eileen Brogan obliged. She closed the door behind her.

“I’m here in Aoife Hartnett’s office on a follow-up. I think she and Shaughnessy might have been an item ”

“Who killed her?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see a motive yet, even with the background.”

“Could Shaughnessy have done it?”

“Without a doubt. But it’s wide open yet.”

“What else?”

“She’d taken sick leave not so long ago. She’d been given it.”

“Impropriety?”

“The opposite, I’m hearing. Burnout. I’m getting the upstairs, downstairs versions sorted out here. ”

“Is that it so far then?”

“Well, I’m finding out about culture on the side. Heritage.”

“Spare me, Matt. What I’d like to know is if you can connect anything. Or where you’re headed with both cases.”

“Too early. Sorry, but.”

“Is the PM on her done yet?”

Minogue found dust in the corner of a window sash. Maybe Malone had the right approach with bouts of bad language.

“I’ll phone you when I know, John.”

“She was a higher up. Right?”

“Yes. Hardworking, a lot of responsibility. Knew her stuff. She mixed, ‘networked’ — all that.”

“How does she, how did she, connect with Shaughnessy?”

“Still don’t know,” said Minogue. “Maybe we can put him in her apartment. There’s a team collecting there. An affair, I don’t know. A few things seem to be coming through. They seem to have traveled together. They didn’t want to attract attention, maybe even to the extent of sneaking into bed-and-breakfasts separately.”

“The lack of stuff coming in from the appeal, is it?”

Minogue wondered how Tynan knew

“I’d be thinking they went to some trouble to avoid people.”

He heard something rubbing over the mouthpiece at Tynan’s end. Muffled voices in his office. The rubbing stopped.

“You’re sure?” he heard Tynan say to someone else.

“Excuse me,” said Tynan then. “Two conversations going here. So I’ll be hearing from you later in the day on this. Even if you’re annoyed.”

“Fair enough. ”

“No word from James?”

“No. Am I to pass on a message if he does phone?”

“You could. We may shortly be getting information which would allow him off the stage here with the media. In relation to Mr. Smith.”

“Is it solid?”

“I don’t know. It happened a half hour ago. This fella has been known awhile but didn’t stand out for any particular reason then. ”

“Do I know him?”

“It’s not a Guard, that’s what I want you to know. A certain person started asking his barrister some very odd questions today at the Special Criminal Court. He’s facing a third conviction for an armed robbery a few months ago. He’s looking for a soft spot to land on.”