“What were you doing at Jonathan Nesbitt’s house yesterday?” DCI Gordon asked, his hands folded on top of his desk.
Dan Hewitt stood silent in the corner.
Lennon looked at each of them in turn. “Just asking a few questions,” he said.
“About what?” Gordon asked.
Lennon scrambled for some reply. Before he could come up with one, Gordon said, “I sent you home yesterday to get some rest, not to go harassing a decent man like Jonathan Nesbitt.”
“It was only a few questions,” Lennon said.
“Pertaining to what?” Gordon didn’t wait for an answer. “You go knocking on people’s doors, flashing your badge, your questions had better be relevant to an investigation I’m supervising. Were they?”
Lennon shifted in his seat. “Not directly.”
“Not directly.” Gordon pursed his lips. “Which is another way of saying ‘not at all.’”
Hewitt cleared his throat. “Look, we know why you went to Mr. Nesbitt’s house, and we know what sort of questions you asked. Mr. Nesbitt reported it to his contact in Special Branch yesterday afternoon. My colleagues weren’t best pleased. Not for the first time, I had to do some sweet-talking on your behalf.”
“You owe DCI Hewitt your gratitude,” Gordon said. “I was ready for dropping you from my team, but he’s convinced me to let it go. But you’re on thin ice, understand?”
Lennon sighed and nodded.
Gordon leaned forward. “Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Lennon said.
Gordon’s face softened. “Look, you’re an excellent police officer. You should be a DCI by now, heading up your own MIT. Behave yourself, and you’ve got a good career ahead of you. Don’t get sidetracked by personal agendas.”
Lennon couldn’t hold his gaze. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“Good. Now, go on. Chase up the forensics on our friend Mr. Quigley, there’s a good fella.”
Lennon stood and went for the door. As he walked down the corridor, Hewitt caught up with him.
“I need a word,” Hewitt said.
Lennon stopped. “What?”
“Listen, Jack, I did you a big favor today.” Hewitt kept his voice low and even. “You might never know how big.”
“Well, I owe you,” Lennon said, walking away.
“I’m about to do you another one,” Hewitt called after him.
Lennon turned. “Yeah? And what’s that?”
Hewitt walked past him and opened the door to the copy room. He looked inside, then beckoned Lennon to follow him in.
Lennon entered the room. “So what’s the favor?”
“Me telling you to leave it alone, that’s what.”
Lennon smiled in spite of himself. “Funny, you’re the second person to tell me that since yesterday.”
Hewitt’s face fell. “Who else said it?”
Lennon put his hands in his pockets. “A little bird.”
“Jesus, Jack, tell me you’ll leave it alone, please.” Hewitt took a step closer. “You know Special Branch doesn’t piss about. They’ll fuck you over soon as look at you.”
“They? By they, you mean we. Right?”
“Don’t put me in this position, Jack. I stuck my neck out for you today, and it wasn’t the first time. I’ve been a good friend to you, whether you think so or not. I’m being a friend to you now. Leave it alone.”
Lennon’s hands made fists inside his pockets. “For Christ’s sake, this is my daughter we’re talking about. She’s been missing along with her mother for months now. I know Marie was mixed up in that feud, the McGinty business, and no one’s seen her since. How do you expect me to leave it?”
Hewitt paced the floor as he considered. He stopped, nodded. “All right. I’ll tell you one thing, and one thing only. But promise me you’ll leave it alone.”
Lennon took his hands out of his pockets and flexed his fingers. “Tell me what?”
“Promise me.”
“I can’t.”
Hewitt stared hard at Lennon. “Promise me.”
Lennon’s shoulders slumped and he leaned against the photocopier. “Fuck,” he said. “All right.”
Hewitt took a breath. “You’re right, Marie was mixed up in that feud.”
“Jesus,” Lennon said.
Hewitt held his hands up. “But only on the periphery,” he said. “Not directly. She moved away just as a precaution. I don’t know where she is, but—”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Jack, I—”
“You’re C3, Special Branch, for Christ’s sake, so don’t tell me you don’t know where she is.”
“She’s safe,” Hewitt said. “Marie McKenna and her little girl—your little girl—are safe. That’s all I can tell you. They’re safe. Okay?”
“Where are they?”
“They’re safe,” Hewitt repeated. “That’s all you need to know.”
“Christ,” Lennon said. He went to swipe a stack of paper off the top of the copier, but thought better of it. Instead, he clasped his hands at the back of his neck and inhaled.
Hewitt said, “There’s one more thing.”
Lennon exhaled and his head went light. “What?”
“It doesn’t mean anything.”
“What?”
“I don’t want you making something of this. It’s just a coincidence.”
Lennon’s hands dropped from behind his neck. “What? Fucking tell me.”
“The lawyer, Patsy Toner.”
Lennon’s heart went cold. He let his face go slack, prepared to show no reaction to whatever Hewitt was about to tell him. “What about him?”
“He has a flat off the Springfield Road. A woman was assaulted in his building around eleven last night. An intruder broke her nose. She doesn’t remember anything about it. Toner’s door was kicked in. He’s missing.”
Lennon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I know you were asking questions about him,” Hewitt said. “Tom Mooney at McKenna’s bar is an informer. He told one of my colleagues you were asking after Patsy Toner.”
Lennon thought about denying it, knew there was no point. “That’s right.”
Hewitt raised a finger. “Well, don’t go asking after him any more. Whatever happened at his flat has nothing to do with you, and nothing to do with Marie McKenna, understand? Patsy Toner is mixed up with all sorts of bad people. Whatever trouble he’s in is his own and no one else’s. The only reason I’m telling you this is so you don’t find out off someone else and go chasing some bloody conspiracy that isn’t there. Now, for God’s sake, leave it alone.”
Lennon studied Hewitt’s face, his gray eyes, the lines around his mouth. He tried to remember if he’d ever really liked him, even back at Garnerville.
“Tell me you’ll leave it alone,” Hewitt said. “Please.”
Lennon swallowed, nodded. “All right,” he said. “I’ll leave it alone.”