Meg O'Brien - The Final Kill

Ben spoke up. “So you think someone was helping them out.”

“We have to assume that was the case,” Bollam said.

One of the agents at the table asked, “Do we know where this group, The Candlelights, came from? What’s their agenda?”

“As I understand it,” Bollam said, “in the early days of the Troubles, as they call it, women in Ireland used to leave a candle burning in a window every night, to welcome the men home after their ‘activities.’ We don’t know why, but the name seems to have been picked up by this new splinter group. As to their agenda, it’s the same as all terrorist groups—to throw people into fear and create chaos.”

He flipped the slides to show two plain, inexpensive-looking cottages and an apartment house. “The Devlins’ cottages were in Philadelphia and Miami. The apartment house is on Crenshaw in L.A. This is all we have on them. Over the years, the Irish police and the IRA apparently gave up hunting for them. There’s been little interest, until recently, in finding Pat Devlin.”

He stopped to take a sip from his glass of water, then pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his chin and tie where the water had dribbled.

“Ah, geez, Joe,” a pink-faced agent with bright red hair said. “You were looking so professional up there till now.”

There was mild laughter from the other agents, and a smile from Bollam. “Just don’t forget I’m your senior,” he said.

“In age, maybe,” the first agent came back with.

“We don’t have much time,” Lessing reminded them.

Everyone quieted down and Bollam continued. “As I was saying, no agency with an interest was ever able to find Pat and Bridget Devlin. There’s no record of them having become naturalized citizens, so if they’re still in this country, they’re here illegally. Unfortunately, it seems they’ve changed their names and identity papers every time they’ve moved, so they’re living as much underground as if they were in a witness protection program.”

“Is that a possibility?” Ben asked.

“Not that we know of—and presumably, we would. To hide out the way they have, there must have been someone helping them. Especially recently, given the new technologies we have for finding terrorists—” he paused and looked around the table “—it must be someone with experience at hiding people, someone who can provide false identities and money.”

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