Later, I would wonder how I had done it, how I had managed to carry on a conversation with the Carneys, collect DNA samples (as well as the hairbrush, Ann had kept a toothbrush) and give them a highly edited account of my progress. Rhona’s death meant I was able to say a lot less than planned. I had gone to the bathroom and thrown cold water on my face. Everything else had been pure autopilot. Or the ability to compartmentalise. Or guilt. Rhona was dead. Murdered. I didn’t know what had happened but I was sure of two things. That Gill had killed her. And that, somehow, I had led him to her.
After I left the Carneys, I texted Tina to say that I’d meet her in the Long Valley pub instead of at home and that I would email her with more instructions. It wasn’t good for her if she and I were seen together while I was on ‘holiday’ but, after what had happened to Rhona, meeting in a public place was safer. Maybe Gill had followed me to Rhona’s house. Or maybe he had had me followed. Or maybe he had always kept tabs on Rhona, but hadn’t felt the need to do anything about her until I had started asking questions.
The Long Valley is famous for its sandwiches, but I couldn’t eat. I ordered a pot of tea and sat at the large round table that, it was said, had come off a ship run aground by Roche’s Point on the outer reaches of Cork Harbour.
As soon as I saw Tina, Supervalu carrier bag in hand, I went down the back to the ladies and waited for her to join me. Tiny and cramped, there was barely room for two, but the door was lockable and, once Tina was inside, lock it I did.
‘Jesus, what’s going on, Finn? This is weird, if you don’t mind me saying.’
‘Did you bring the box?’
‘I brought it, and the rest of the stuff you asked for. But what’s it for?’
‘A lot has happened since yesterday. I didn’t want you to be seen with me, for your own sake – work and all that. And there are, ah, other reasons as well.’
Your life, for one.
‘I want you to chase up Deirdre’s medical records,’ I continued. ‘They’re more important now than ever and the sooner we get them the better. You’ve already sent in the request, I know, but you need to follow up.’
‘No probs.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘But be careful, be discreet. I know it’s odd but I want you to go in a minute – get a sandwich somewhere, not here, and go back to the office. I’ll go out first and sit back where I was. You come out then and walk past me, as if you don’t know me, pretend you were just at the loo. Now – I need to get one of the exhibits out of the box and I’ll take all the documents you prepared. When you get back to the office, lock the box back in my drawer immediately. Do it before you eat your lunch. Please. I’ll explain everything later.’
‘It’s like fecking Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Finn,’ Tina said.
I couldn’t smile. I had to tell her about Rhona before she heard it elsewhere.
Five minutes after Tina had gone, I got up, paid for my un-drunk tea and left the pub. I crossed Oliver Plunkett Street to the GPO. Once inside, I walked at speed to the far door, exited on to Pembroke Street and crossed the narrow street to Mayne’s. The seats at the end of the bar, just inside the front door, were free. I ordered an Americano, left €2.50 on the counter, and sat in the second seat out from the wall. I could see whoever came in and went out. But, more importantly, I had space to deal with the package Tina had given me. I took the bagged coaster exhibit and labelled it with the sticky labels Tina had brought ‘DC1’. Next, I labelled the items that I had got from Ann with ‘DC2’ and ‘DC3’.
I tugged some of my own hair out by the root, put it in a bag, and labelled it ‘FF1’. Waiting for Tina in the Long Valley, I had realised that I had to submit a sample, in case Deirdre’s hair and toothbrushes didn’t yield enough DNA to extract a reading. As a fallback, my own DNA – that of a sister or a half-sister – could identify Deirdre’s. I would find out if we had the same father by default after all.
I had the pen that I had given Gill to use bagged up already. I labelled it ‘JG1’. Then, I used a clip to attach all five exhibits to the covering letter Tina had typed for me, and signed the covering letter and my credit card payment authorisation. Finally, I put everything into the A4 padded envelope, pre-addressed by Tina to Setanta Forensic Laboratories, and sealed it. I fitted the envelope back into my handbag and wound the long strap around my wrist a couple of times. For all my precautions, it was impossible to tell if I had been followed into the pub. After all, I didn’t know who I was looking for.
I went to the back of the bar and entered the smoking area that connected Mayne’s with the Crane Lane, a permanently packed seven-night-a-week late bar, live music club and pick-up joint. Sadie says that there should be a motorway sign in the lane outside: ‘Wrong way, turn back’. But around midnight, if you’re still out on the town, the place has an irresistible draw.
Standing, back to the wall, I waited. Seconds later, the door swung open and a man burst through. He must have seen me, but he strode quickly past and on to the lane without looking in my direction. I only got a side view, but I recognised him instantly: the man I had collided with the previous evening in Dublin, the Herald-reading rude man, though now he was wearing a black leather jacket instead of a suit. It struck me then that he seemed vaguely familiar, and not just from the coffee shop.
I doubled back through Mayne’s and crossed Pembroke Street to the GPO, hoping I’d make it before the man had a chance to follow. I went straight to the parcels section, and registered the letter to Setanta Forensic. I had intended to drive but, after what I’d heard about Rhona, registered post seemed safer. Gill was powerful, but even he couldn’t have his tentacles in An Post, surely?
From the GPO, I crossed Oliver Plunkett Street and went into Penneys, via the back door. The shop was heaving, as usual. Good luck to anyone trying to follow me through that. I dashed out the front door, on to Patrick Street and hailed a cab to take me the short trip to Coughlan’s Quay Garda Station to meet Sadie O’Riordan.
By the time I got there, I had remembered where I’d seen the man before.