A Terrible Beauty

'You're warm enough?' asked Lucy, drawing the bed-cover over her.

'Myumh.'

'You're comfortable?'

'Mmh.'

'You're fast asleep?'

Silence.

Lucy sat in a chair beside the bed and watched Katie sleep for nearly an hour. She was just about to get up and take another whiskey from the minibar when Katie's cell phone rang. She picked it up from the coffee table and said, 'What?'

'This is a message from Eircell. You have one new message in your mailbox. To listen to your message, press 1.'

She pressed 1. It was Gerard O'Brien, and he sounded worried.

'Katie? It's Gerard again. Listen, Katie, I really need to talk to you very urgently. I don't want to tell you too much over the phone, but I think I've found out who Callwood was, and what happened to him; and I've also found out some very worrying information that might affect the way you decide to pursue this investigation, which is about the discreetest way I can think of to put it.'

He paused, and then he said, 'Call me back as soon as you can. I'll try leaving a message with Liam Fennessy, too.'

Lucy kept the cell phone pressed against her ear. After a while, the Eircell voice said,'To erase your message, press 7.'

She looked down at Katie, who was now deeply sleeping with her mouth open and one hand intermittently jittering on the pillow next to her as if she were trying to catch the smallest of dusty-gray moths.

50

Liam was about to leave his office when his telephone rang.

'Inspector Fennessy? It's the switchboard here. Is Superintendent Maguire there with you?'

'I haven't seen her all afternoon. Have you tried her mobile?'

'I have but she isn't answering. It's Professor O'Brien, he says he has something important to tell her but he can't seem to find her.'

'Is he on the phone now? Put him on.'

There was a sharp crackle, and then Gerard said, 'Is that Inspector Fennessy? I've been trying to locate Superintendent Maguire.'

'Anything I can help you with?'

'It's to do with these murders. I really have to talk to her urgently. I've tried her cell phone, I've tried calling her up at Meagher's Farm-'

'Professor, I'm assigned to this case, too. If you've found out anything critical-'

'Critical? It's absolutelycataclysmic. I'm waiting on some final bits and pieces of information from America, but when I get it, I think we may be able to solve the 1915 murdersandthe Fiona Kelly murder, too. And change the face of modern history, besides.'

'Listen, Professor, I don't actually know where Katie is, right at this moment, but I expect that I'll be hearing from her sometime this evening. Why don't you tell me what it is that you've found out, and then I can pass it on to Katie when she calls me.'

'Well, ah-I think I'd better try to talk to Katie first. I'm not sure she'd be-'

'We're talking about a murder inquiry, Professor O'Brien. If you have material evidence that could help to bring somebody to justice, then you ought to tell me about it, and you ought to tell me as soon as possible.'

There was a long pause, and then Gerard said, 'All right, then. But this is not a thing that I can explain to you over the phone.'

'I'll come to see you, then. Where are you now?'

'I'm at home. Number 45 Perrott Avenue, up at the back of the university.'

'Give me twenty minutes. There's one or two things I have to sort out first.'

'All right, then. But if you do hear from Katie in the meantime, you'll let her know?'

'I will, of course.'

?   ?   ?

He met Jimmy O'Rourke in the lobby. 'Fancy an old beer, sir, before you go?' Jimmy asked him, blowing out cigarette smoke.

'Just a quick one. Have you seen Katie anywhere?'

'She went home, I think. Did you hear about her accident?'

'I did, yes. Christ. That must have been the end to a perfect day.'

'She needs to take a week off, if you ask me.'