Protestant. She married a Catholic and raised their son in the father's faith. That was Jack. He left home in 1916 to join the Volunteers. His father died from the Spanish flu, and Polly later remarried, this time to a Protestant named Simms.'
'That must be why Simms was not admitted to the Royal Knights,' Carrick said, half to himself.
'Who the hell are they?' Uncle Dan asked.
'Long story,' I said. 'Right after young Adrian was born, Polly and her second husband were caught in a cross fire between the RIC and the IRA. Both were killed, and Adrian ended up being brought up by his aunt. I'd guess that she knew Polly and her husband would have wanted him brought up Protestant, so she obliged.'
'What would Red Jack have thought about that?' Uncle Dan asked.
'We know he's an atheist-that's part of his Marxist beliefs,' Slaine said. 'It's not about religion with him; he'd abolish all churches if he could.'
I stared at the picture of Sam with Adrian Simms. What had Sam said to me just before Taggart opened fire? That Adrian had told him about the funeral, and to dress in his Class A uniform. I remembered Adrian leaving the room, just before the shots.
'Taggart and Simms are working together,' I said.
'I can't accept that Simms would work with the IRA simply because he shares a parent with Taggart,' Carrick said.
'He isn't. They're both working for themselves.'
'Explain yourself,' Carrick said as his back went rigid and his eyes narrowed in righteous disbelief.
'I think Adrian Simms brought Sam Burnham to the wake to be killed. It always seemed to me that Taggart targeted Sam deliberately, then shot up the house without hitting anyone else.'
'Why, in God's name? Why would Simms do such a thing?' Carrick said.
'Because he was crooked. He worked with Jenkins and was involved in the black market and any other rackets he had going on. He had a lot of secrets.'
'Even if that were true,' Carrick said, the disbelief fading from his voice as his policeman's mind started turning over the details, 'why would Simms have a hand in killing Lieutenant Burnham?'
'Sam Burnham spent a day wandering around Armagh and was identified by a grocer near the Northern Bank. That's Jenkins's bank but it's also where Simms has his accounts. I had a conversation with a fellow there-the janitor, a Catholic-who told me that recently the bank manager gave him and a new teller the afternoon off. I described Taggart, and he said a man like that had been to see McBurney but his name was Lawson. He wasn't sure if it was Taggart. He was afraid to say more. When I described him to McBurney, he wasn't eager to answer questions. Said the Black Knights were everywhere.'
'Where does the afternoon off come in?' Slaine said.
'That was Lawson's second appointment with McBurney. It could well have been the same day Sam was in Armagh. My guess is that Simms brought his half brother into the bank as Mr. Lawson, telling McBurney some story about him, and that only trusted employees should be allowed to see him. I'd guess that visit was a surprise. And an even bigger surprise was when Simms and Taggart, posing as Lawson, ran into Sam on the street. It was his death sentence.'
'Because Simms knew that sooner or later, Lieutenant Burnham would see a picture of Taggart,' Slaine said.
'Exactly,' I said. 'And he couldn't afford for his link to Taggart to be known. He also had a hand in kidnapping Pete Brennan as he was about to be paid off by Jenkins. Another loose end cleaned up, since Brennan had both seen Taggart in Clough with Eddie Mahoney and had evidence against Jenkins.'
'And you say Simms was working with Jenkins?' Carrick said.
'Yes. Jenkins might have been happy to let Brennan go but I bet Simms talked him into saving his money. That way there was no risk that Brennan could place Taggart anywhere near Simms. The sighting at Clough must have been too close for comfort.'
'How does this bank figure into everything?' Uncle Dan asked.
'It's the perfect cover for a Catholic extremist,' Slaine said. 'Create a new identity, have a customer vouch for you, and you've got your money hidden away in a Protestant bank, protected by a Royal Black Knight, no less. Perhaps Simms alluded to the Red Hand, or something equally secretive, so that McBurney would handle everything discreetly.'
'So that's where the money is, the money that Taggart embezzled,' Uncle Dan said. Clan na Gael money.
'Yes,' Carrick said, drumming his fingers on the table, his tea long gone cold. 'That seems likely. But at the moment, money is not our main concern. The guns, Taggart, and the German agents are.'
'Does it seem likely that on the one hand, Taggart would steal from the IRA,' Slaine said, 'and on the other hand, work with the Germans on their behalf?'
'The same Germans who killed his family,' I said, half to myself. A picture started to form in my mind. A picture of two half brothers, united in death, despair, and disillusionment. 'Forget the politics. Taggart and Simms both lost their mother to a gun battle, no telling which side fired the killing shots. Then Taggart serves in the Spanish Civil War and loses his idealism. He returns to Ireland, drinks heavily for a while, and is finally able to start a normal life. He's still working for the cause but he has a regular job, marries, starts a family.'
'Then they send him north,' Slaine said, picking up on the thread I was weaving. 'He brings his family under an assumed identity, thinking they'll be safe. But they're not. German bombs find them, and he's lost everything. Again.'
'Maybe he started skimming the sweepstake money before, or maybe that was the trigger,' I said. 'Either way, I think he got in touch with his half brother, Adrian Simms, and made common cause with him.'
'Them against the world,' Uncle Dan said. 'Against the Brits, the Americans, the Germans, the rest of the Irish, damn all in their eyes.'
'Did you notice a change in him, Slaine?' I said it softly, watching her eyes. She didn't look at me. She didn't answer.
'What do you mean?' Carrick said.
'Tell them,' I said to her. She raised her face, a small twitch at one corner of her mouth betraying her emotions. Her eyes glistened for a moment but she sat up straight, one hand laid flat on the table as if to steady herself.
'Taggart and Jenkins, they both work for me,' she said. 'Worked, I should say.'
'That's insane,' Carrick said. 'What could those two do for you?'
'Maintain a balance,' I said. 'Each of them taking care of the worst of their own lot. Or did they kill each other's rotten apples?'
'They took care of their own,' she said. 'Jenkins was easy. What he wanted most was protection and to eliminate his rivals. Taggart was more difficult to manage. He wanted money.'
'Does MI-5 have money problems?' Uncle Dan said.
'He wanted a good deal of money. I needed to keep it a secret, and the greater the sums, the more likely someone would question it.'
'You sanctioned murder? Actually paid them to assassinate their own people? In my jurisdiction?' Carrick sounded astounded at the scope of it.
'It was necessary,' she said, making a fist and pounding the table, rattling teacups. 'You have no idea how many revenge killings we stopped. The more brutal the attacks, the more necessary it was to eliminate the attacker. Like stopping an infection before it spreads.'
'And you kept on meeting with Taggart, even after the theft of the BARs? Even after he killed Sam Burnham?'
'It was all part of the agreement, with both of them. That was separate from everything else. They understood that I might need to investigate them with one hand and pay them with the other.'
'You can't separate murder from everything else. You can't deal with men like Jenkins and Taggart and expect them to maintain some sort of code of honor,' I said. 'Jenkins wound up hanging from a rafter, and you almost got blown up, twice.'
'I didn't expect honor. I thought I knew what each of them wanted. With Jenkins, I think I did. He needed to be the top man, to have the respect and fear of all those around him. I insured he'd be untouchable, and he did the
