10th March 2014
‘If you’d held out, you could have done better,’ I said.
‘We wanted it over,’ Sean Carney said. ‘And what we got is worth more than any money to us.’
‘It’s a symbol,’ Ann said. ‘Even if we can’t tell anyone about it until after the criminal case.’
‘And maybe never,’ I said. ‘If Gill isn’t convicted in the murder trial, the terms of the settlement mean you’ll have to stay silent for ever.’
‘I know,’ Ann said. ‘And he’s never going to be convicted for what he did to Deirdre. Still, it’s some recognition. It means more than I imagined. And he will be convicted, I know he will.’
The Rhona Macbride murder trial was fixed to start in early May. I wouldn’t be involved much, I reckoned. Even though I had been listed as a State witness, it was likely that the Gills’ legal teams would argue that my evidence should be excluded for fear of prejudicing the jury. If they succeeded, Another Bad Day at the Office would provide evidence that Gill knew Rhona but, as with all criminal trials, the jury would have to adjudicate on the basis of the evidence before them, and nothing else.
The background about Gill and Deirdre would come out only after the trial. There would be more prosecutions too, and civil cases. After he was charged with Rhona’s murder, other victims had felt safe enough to come out of the shadows, in Ireland, and also in the United States. I hoped that one of them was the girl from Winterville in New York State, the girl Christopher Dalton had told me about, though I didn’t know. The upcoming trial meant that a lid was being kept on publicity about additional complaints. But once the trial was over, there would be no way back for him. I had had new client enquiries already in relation to personal injury claims against Gill, and in other similar cases. I had even received a few referrals courtesy of DI Lenihan, which surprised me no end. Though when I rang to thank him, he didn’t take the call, which surprised me less.
Garda Ruth Joyce’s tenacious investigation had led to the solving of the string of arson attacks that had plagued Cork during 2012 and 2013. After I had dropped my complaint against Joey O’Connor, Ruth had re-examined the footage from previous burnings and found that Joey had an unfortunate and inconvenient habit of being in the neighbourhood of several of the attacks. When confronted with the evidence, he admitted finally that he had been responsible for torching not just my car but all the rest as well, his only selection criteria being that the car owners had visited his car showroom and not bought a car. And that he hadn’t liked them. He wasn’t prosecuted for my car, but he was done for the rest. He pleaded guilty and, unlike after his previous prosecution, got jail time. But, with a discount for his co-operation and plea, he could be out in as little as eighteen months.
We walked down the steps of the courthouse and on to Washington Street. The settlement discussions hadn’t taken long in the end. The Carneys had pressed me to seek an admission from Jeremy Gill of what he had done to Deirdre, rather than a larger damages payout without an admission. Soon after Gill’s arrest, I had obtained a Mareva injunction, preventing him from dissipating his assets pending the resolution of the Carneys’ claim. Understandably, as he didn’t qualify for legal aid, Gill and his legal team wanted the order lifted, and I was able to set up early settlement negotiations as a result. There was a gagging order on the Carney settlement until after the criminal trial, but it was enough for Sean and Ann that the concession had been made. For them, the case had never been about the money.
At the foot of the steps, Sean turned to me.
‘All I ever wanted was to warn others about Jeremy Gill. To make sure that he wouldn’t hurt another girl, like he did Deirdre. I blame myself, you know. Right back at the very beginning, if I’d listened to Ann, maybe the two of us could have persuaded Deirdre to go and report what had happened. But I didn’t even try. I didn’t want her hurt any more. I thought we could mind her. I thought we could make her better. There was a time later, too, when she might have … It was only a few weeks before she died, she came to me and she talked around in circles but, as I look back on it, I think, no, I know that’s what she was saying, that she wanted to go to the guards then. If I’d been brave enough, I could have helped her. And she might still be alive. You could have met your sister. And we would still have our daughter. I didn’t want her to go through the pain and the public shame of a trial after so many years had gone by. But I was wrong, so wrong.’
It fitted with what Deirdre’s psychiatric records had said – that she had been building towards naming her assailant and making a report. There had been no mention in the notes of a conversation with her father, though. Maybe it hadn’t been as important to her as it seemed to Sean in retrospect, but there was no way of knowing.
He started to cry, and I remembered the November night that we had met, and how he had wept on the street in front of my office. I looked at Ann. Her eyes were filled with tears. She shook her head. She knew about regret. I did too. I knew it didn’t help anyone and that it never went away.
‘You did your best, Sean,’ I said. ‘And at least Gill is a danger to nobody now. He’s on remand in Cloverhill. Assuming he’s convicted, he’s facing a mandatory life sentence. He’ll be inside for a long time.’
Ann took hold of my hand.
‘Don’t be a stranger, Finn,’ she said.
I walked in silence with the Carneys to the corner of South Main Street, the same street Sean and I had taken together that first night on the way to Forde’s pub. We stopped for a moment and both of them hugged me. Then we parted without a word. There was nothing left to say.
Legally, the case had ended successfully, but Deirdre was never coming home.