A Terrible Beauty

'Is that all?'

'I wanted to do something to help people.'

'Ah, yes. Helping people. I remember that.'

'Pardon?'

'Oh, you mustn't pay any attention. I've had a difficult night, to say the least. What's your name?'

'Kathleen, ma'am. Kathleen Kiely. Most people call me Katie.'

'Do you want some advice, Katie? Some really good advice?

The garda glanced at Katie apprehensively.

'Never forget that you have limits, Katie. The more you give to people, the more they're going to take.'

'Ma'am?'

'I don't expect you to understand what I'm telling you, Katie. But just remember that you're not a saint, or a sister of mercy, or a holy martyr. You don't owe the world everything, because if you think you do, you'll end up with nothing at all.'

The garda looked embarrassed, and obviously didn't know what to say.

'One more thing,' said Katie, as they crossed the bridge onto Great Island. 'Never go swimming in the River Lee with your overcoat on.'

Her cell phone rang as she was putting the key into her front door. It was Liam Fennessy. 'How's Paul?' he wanted to know.

'It's difficult to say. Very poorly at the moment. He still hasn't regained consciousness.'

'I'm sorry about that, Katie. Listen, I'm up at St. Patrick's Morgue. We've just had formal identification of the driver and the passenger in the Range Rover.'

Sergeant came bounding up to her as she opened the door and entered the hallway. 'Steady, boy! Steady! No-it's all right, Liam. I'm talking to the dog. Was it anybody I know?'

'Oh, yes, it certainly was. Two very good friends of yours, in fact.'

'I'm too tired to play guessing games, Liam.'

'What if I told you it was Dave MacSweeny and his muscleman Fergal Fitzgerald.'

'You're not serious. Dave MacSweeny?'

'No mistake whatsoever. Earring, tattoos, stigmata, and all. That should take a load off your mind now, shouldn't it?'

Katie hung up the raincoat she had borrowed from the Regional. 'What are you getting at, Liam?'

'I'm not going to say too much over a cell phone, Katie, but I know that it was Eamonn Collins who had MacSweeny nailed to the cross and I know why he did it. There was only one man in Cork who was rash enough to mess with Geraldine Daley, and there was only one man who thought he could get away with lifting nearly a million quid's worth of building supplies from MacSweeny's yard and selling it on to Charlie Flynn.

'Likewise, there was only one woman in Cork who was in a position to ask Eamonn Collins for a very special favor. Come on, Katie, I've known Dave MacSweeny ever since we were in high babies together. Eamonn Collins had no other business with Dave MacSweeny exceptyourbusiness.'

Katie was silent for a moment, and then she said, 'What will you do?'

'Nothing. Why should I? If one scumbag decides to crucify another scumbag, and the second scumbag ends up drowned in the river with a third scumbag, who cares?'

'You could report it to Dermot.'

'I could of course, but I'm not going to. I have my loyalties, Katie, and my first loyalty is to An Garda Siochana. Whatever I think about it, it would be a public-relations disaster if our first-ever woman detective superintendent was compromised in any way.'

'I could report it myself.'

'Yes, you could. But what good would that do us? You'd lose your career, and we'd lose one of our best detectives. You should think of your father, too. He'd be heartbroken.'

'You can be very creepy at times, Liam.'

'Creepy? Hah! I'm perceptive, that's all. Keeping the peace doesn't just mean throwing people in gaol. Keeping the peace means compromising, doing what's practical, and having infinite patience. Eamonn Collins may have something on you now, but you've got plenty on him, haven't you, and your time will come. Anyway-look on the bright side-Charlie Flynn doesn't have to stay in Florida any longer. None of the rest of Dave MacSweeny's riffraff is going to have the nerve to threaten old Charlie for money, especially when the goods were nicked in the first place. Dermot can tell the lord mayor that his brother-in-law has been discovered safe and well, and you can take all the credit.'

'What's this leading to, Liam?'

'I told you, Katie. Nothing at all.'

'You know I went round to see Caitlin.'

'Yes, I do.'

'I was going to talk to you about this yesterday.'