She ran a red-painted fingernail down the photograph next to the one of Dunne. This man was the oldest of the five, with thinning grey hair and the ruddy cheeks of someone who had spent a lot of time outdoors. ‘Joseph McFee. Left the Provos once the Peace Process got rolling and is thought to have joined the Real IRA. He didn’t actually shoot Carter, and no evidence was presented that suggested he was carrying a gun, but he got life as well, plus additional life sentences for killing two British soldiers and three other policemen. He was released two months after Dunne.’
‘Is it just me or is the world going crazy?’ asked Shepherd. ‘He murders two soldiers and four coppers and we let him out?’
‘It was part of the Peace Process,’ said Button. ‘That was the deal.’
‘Then the deal sucks, as my son would say. What we’re saying is that if you murder a drug-dealer you’ll spend twenty years plus behind bars. Kill a copper or a soldier and they’ll let you out early.’
‘You won’t hear any arguments from me on that score,’ said Button. She took a photograph from the file and laid it over the head-and-shoulders picture of McFee. It was from a crime scene, an almost exact match of the first. ‘McFee was shot last week.’
She paused to make sure she had his undivided attention. ‘Both men, McFee and Dunne, were shot with the same gun. Robbie Carter’s service revolver.’
Shepherd quirked an eyebrow. ‘Open and shut, then?’
‘If it was, they wouldn’t have called us in,’ said Button. ‘Carter’s gun was never found. His wife said she had no idea where it was and there was a suggestion that the killers took it with them.’
‘Is that possible?’
Button shrugged. ‘Elaine Carter didn’t mention the gun being taken at the time but she was pretty forthcoming with other details. In fact, it was her recollections that helped put the execution squad behind bars. So we’re assuming that the gun wasn’t taken at the time. The rifling on the bullets used in both killings is an exact match to those on record for Carter’s gun. A Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum.’
‘Nice gun,’said Shepherd. ‘Not regular police issue,though. Back in the nineties the RUC were using the nine-millimetre Smith amp; Wesson 5904.’
‘Back then Special Branch were allowed a degree of flexibility in their choice of handgun,’ said Button. ‘The Magnum would be a man-stopper, I gather.’
‘It would do a lot of damage, that’s for sure,’ said Shepherd.
‘All guns issued to officers are test-fired at the PSNI’s Weapons and Explosives Research Centre and they keep a ballistic report on file along with a sample casing and an expended round,’ said Button. ‘WERC gave our technical people their samples and the report and, as I said, the bullets are a match. So, now we’ve got two of Carter’s killers dead, and three still alive. For the time being, at least.’ She pointed at the photograph in the middle. ‘This is Gerry Lynn. A hard man, is Mr Lynn. He’s the one who shot Carter in the legs. They went in to kill Carter, so the shots to the knee seem to have been nothing more than badness on Lynn’s part. Ballistics showed that his wasn’t a killing shot. He was released after serving three years, again under the Good Friday Agreement.’ Shepherd looked expectantly at the file, but Button shook her head. ‘Mr Lynn is very much alive, but is obviously a little jittery.’
‘Under police protection?’
Button chuckled. ‘Far too macho to let the police take care of him,’ she said. ‘The IRA have him under wraps. He’s been their golden boy since the Northern Bank robbery in December two thousand and four.’
It had been Ireland’s biggest ever raid. A group of men had kidnapped bank employees and got away with twenty-six million pounds, which, by all accounts, had swelled the coffers of the IRA. ‘Lynn was involved in that?’
‘That’s the intel the RUC had, but it was never proved.’
‘They never found the bulk of the money, either,’ said Shepherd.
‘It’s been laundered by now,’ said Button. ‘And if Lynn kept any, it’s well hidden.’ She tapped the photograph second from the right. ‘The driver, Willie McEvoy, was the first to be caught and was sentenced to life. Released six years ago under the Good Friday Agreement. Now he’s a drug-dealer in East Belfast. Heroin, cocaine, cannabis, you name it, Mr McEvoy can supply it. He’s been refusing police protection, no doubt because he’s afraid it’ll cramp his style.’
Shepherd picked up the fifth photograph. ‘This one I know, of course,’ he said.
‘Ah, yes, he’s quite the celebrity,’ said Button. ‘Noel Kinsella. He fired one shot in the Carter house, which missed. Bullet ricocheted off the floor and smacked into a kitchen cabinet. Once Lynn and Dunne were taken into custody, Kinsella did a runner. He was located in the States and the authorities started extradition proceedings but even after Nine Eleven the Americans were loath to do anything to offend the Irish-American lobby so they entered a legal limbo. Then Kinsella had a change of heart, stopped opposing extradition and agreed to fly to the UK.’
‘Because he knew that under the Good Friday Agreement he wouldn’t do any time?’
‘Exactly,’ said Button. ‘He pleaded guilty, showed no remorse, was sentenced to life by a very angry judge, and was out on the streets by teatime. The thing that set alarm bells ringing was that the killing started after he agreed to come back and face the music.’
‘The last straw, is that what you mean?’
‘At least the others served some time, even if only a few years. But it was all over the papers that Kinsella was coming back into the welcoming arms of Sinn Fein and that he wouldn’t be doing any time. There’s even talk of a role for him in the Northern Ireland Assembly.’
‘Is that possible?’ asked Shepherd.
‘The way things are going, you can’t rule it out,’ said Button. ‘It’s
‘Two murders don’t necessarily mean there’ll be more,’ said Shepherd.
‘Two murders with Robbie Carter’s gun can’t be coincidence.’
‘If it’s the widow, good luck to her,’ said Shepherd.
‘That’s a gut reaction,’ said Button.
‘They killed her husband in cold blood and walk out after a few years,’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s not justice.’
‘It’s not about justice, it’s about bringing an end to the IRA’s armed struggle,’ said Button.
‘The Government did a deal with terrorists,’ said Shepherd. ‘Lay down your arms and we’ll let your killers go free.’ He pointed at the photograph of Carter. ‘They shot him in ’ninety-six, right? The IRA called a ceasefire in ’ninety-four. Then, because things weren’t going their way, they called off the ceasefire and were killing again. When the Government caved in they announced that the ceasefire was on again.’
‘He was unlucky, that’s for sure.’
‘Luck had nothing to do with it,’ said Shepherd. ‘The IRA shot him like a dog. I tell you, if they’d killed someone I loved I doubt I’d stand by and let bygones be bygones.’
‘I never took you for a vigilante,’ said Button.
‘When it’s personal, all bets are off,’ said Shepherd. He studied the photograph of Noel Kinsella. ‘This is recent?’
‘Taken a year ago at one of his extradition hearings.’
Kinsella was in his early thirties, good-looking with a strong chin, piercing blue eyes and jet black hair slicked back with gel. ‘Is your interest because you want to put the wife away, or because you want to protect Kinsella? Him being married to a Kennedy and all.’
‘A very minor Kennedy,’ said Button.
‘I seem to remember that Ted was at the wedding,’ said Shepherd.
‘I wouldn’t read too much into the connection,’ said Button. ‘The issue is more about making sure that no harm comes to someone who was extradited from the States. I know that Kinsella effectively returned of his own accord but our government went to a lot of trouble to get him back, and if anything should happen to him, it’ll make it that much harder to extradite anyone else.’
‘So it’s more about protecting IRA killers than it is about catching whoever’s knocking them off?’
‘Two men have died,’ said Button. ‘Let’s not forget that.’
‘Three, if you count Robbie Carter, and from my perspective, he was worth a dozen of them. Here’s a question for you, Charlie. Let’s suppose Elaine Carter’s been killing these guys and let’s say we put her away. How
