Marmion and Keedy raised no protest. They were willing to endure anything in order to overtake Niall Quinn.
‘We’ll just have to hope that the train doesn’t slow down at any point,’ said Marmion, ‘or he may be able to jump off.’
‘I don’t think he’ll be jumping anywhere, Harv. Didn’t you see the way he hung from that bridge so that he didn’t have so far to fall? That limp tells us that he’s hurt one of his legs,’ argued Keedy. ‘Otherwise, he’d have leapt off that bridge like the daredevil that Major Gostelow described. In any case, didn’t the stationmaster say that the goods train wouldn’t stop until it reached the marshalling yard?’
‘There could always be an emergency stop.’
‘Niall Quinn will want to go as far as the train will take him.’
‘You’re probably right,’ said Marmion, ‘and we do have one thing in our favour — he thinks he shaken us off. He doesn’t realise we’re after him.’
‘The surprise element is always useful, especially when someone is armed.’
‘We must take no chances, Joe.’
‘I’d feel a lot happier if we had guns as well.’
‘You’re not trained to use a firearm.’
‘I ought to be and so should you.’
‘Take it up with the commissioner,’ said Marmion, ‘though you’d be spitting in the wind. It’s a matter of pride to him that, in the main, we’re not armed. I know that constables on night patrol in certain areas do carry weapons but they’re the exception and their pistols are not always reliable. Don’t forget what happened at the Siege of Sidney Street.’
‘How could I?’ said Keedy, bitterly. ‘It was a disgrace. Our guns were useless and our so-called marksmen couldn’t shoot straight.’
It was only five years since the siege and it remained fresh in the memory. Three policemen had been shot dead while trying to arrest a gang of Latvian burglars. Just over a fortnight later, the police received information that two of the gang were hiding in a flat in Sidney Street. A gun battle developed. While the police used bulldog revolvers, shotguns and firearms more suitable for a rifle range, they were up against men with Mauser pistols capable of rapid and accurate fire. Eventually, the police had to ask for volunteer marksmen from the Scots Guards.
‘It really showed us up,’ complained Keedy. ‘When they saw how inadequate our guns were, they withdrew them from service, then reissued them as soon as the war broke out. Do we never learn?’
‘It’s a question of budgets, Joe. It always is.’
‘It’s a question of common sense.’
They swung hard to the left as the car turned a corner at a speed that took two of its wheels briefly off the ground. As it straightened, it was racing down a road that was parallel with the railway line. A passenger train thundered past in the opposite direction, half-hidden in billowing smoke. Buildings and trees obscured the line for a few moments but it soon came back into view. Seeing something ahead, their driver increased speed until he drew level with a goods train.
‘Do you think that’s the one Niall Quinn is on?’ asked Keedy.
‘I’m sure it is, Joe.’
‘How can you be certain?’
Marmion chuckled. ‘Didn’t you see him wave to us?’
Convinced that he was safe, Niall Quinn lay back and rested. Some of the wagons had been carrying coal but he chose one with a tarpaulin over it in the hope of a softer landing. He was in luck. Beneath the tarpaulin were large cardboard boxes. While he had no knowledge of what they contained, he was grateful for the way they’d softened his fall from the bridge. His first task had been to inspect the swollen ankle. Nothing was broken but it really hurt. Accustomed to improvising, he tore a long section off the bottom of his shirt to use as a bandage and give his ankle support. Feeling marginally better, he was able to relax and consider how best he could get to Anglesey and thence to Ireland. He was sorry to complicate the lives of the Quinn family by turning up unexpectedly and he was especially sad to have terrified his cousin, Maureen. Under other circumstances, he’d have liked the chance to get to know her better. But his commitment to the ideals of Sinn Fein came first.
Remaining in England was too dangerous. As long as he was there, he’d be hunted and he’d vowed never to be incarcerated in Frongoch again. Once he’d got back to the safety of Dublin, he decided, he might send a cheery postcard to Major Gostelow. The governor had a sense of humour. He’d appreciate it.
Their car had long since lost sight of the goods train and they had no idea if they were still ahead of it or indeed if it was the right one. They were in open countryside now with trees looming out of the dark.
‘I take it that Niall Quinn is no longer on your list,’ said Keedy. ‘If he only came back to the area today, he couldn’t possibly have set off that bomb at the pub.’
‘I accept that, Joe. He’s not the man we’re after.’
‘Then why are we chasing him?’
‘Would you rather let him go?’ asked Marmion.
‘Oh, no — he’s a danger to the public while he’s on the loose. When we’ve got a chance of nabbing him, we’ve got to take it. I’m not quite sure what Chat will make of it all, though.’
‘I think I do. If we arrest Quinn, he’ll rap us over the knuckles for straying away from our investigation, then he’ll enjoy bragging rights over Special Branch because we did their job for them. Chat always wants it both ways.’
‘What about the Quinn family?’
‘Technically, they were harbouring an escaped prisoner.’
‘They were doing it reluctantly,’ said Keedy. ‘I believe Maureen. Her cousin popped up like a jack-in-the-box and there was nothing she could do about it. If he hadn’t needed to reclaim his gun, Niall Quinn wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the house. We should remember that.’
‘We will, Joe. In fairness to Niall, he didn’t mean to get them into trouble. We happened to arrive on their doorstep at the wrong time.’
‘I’d have thought it was the right time.’
‘It is, in one sense,’ said Marmion. ‘When we found Niall there, we struck gold. He’s the one to blame, not the family.’
‘Maureen told us the truth,’ said Keedy, ‘I’m certain of it. I’m less certain that she told us the full truth about the night of the explosion.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘There’s always this sense that she’s holding something back.’
‘Most of the time, it will just be tears.’
‘Perhaps I’m not the best person to question her.’
‘I’d say that you did very well, Joe. After all, you were the one who got the name of Herbert Wylie out of her. That marked a huge advance for us.’
‘There’s more to come, if only I knew how to draw it out.’
‘We’ll both have a go at her next time.’
‘I’m not sure that that’s the answer, Harv. We’re men and she’s a young woman in a tragic situation. With the best will in the world, we can’t ever win her over completely.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s a job for a woman,’ suggested Keedy. ‘Maureen needs someone who can console her and gain her trust. That’s where the feminine touch has the advantage.’
‘We don’t have female detectives,’ said Marmion.
‘We have policewomen. In fact, you’ve got one in the family.’
‘Let’s not drag Alice into this.’
‘But she’d be the ideal person to talk to Maureen,’ said Keedy. ‘She’s patient, softly spoken and full of sympathy for anyone in distress. Also, she’s fairly close in age to Maureen. I think that Alice would know instinctively what to say to her. She’d win Maureen’s confidence in a way that we could never achieve.’
Alice Marmion got off the bus and walked in the direction of her flat. Though she was not directly involved in the case, she knew enough about it to make deductions of her own. It was a more pleasurable exercise than tramping the streets as she’d done when on duty that day. She envied her father and Joe Keedy. They were at the
