“For that to happen, the policeman would have to be alone. Do you think a policeman would be standing alone in Castle Street?”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

“Neither would I.”

“But what I wanted to find out about was his life after prison.”

“And what I want to know is whether Shamey Coyle shot this peeler? That will tell us what you want to know. And if he did, how he did it. You don’t intend having him in jail for a crime he didn’t commit?”

“Well, the charges were brought long after he was arrested. He would have been arrested on suspicion.”

“Yes, but he’s in the RA, isn’t he? He’s a soldier. If he’s a soldier he has already shot someone, or he is about to do so.”

“Yes.”

“Well then, before you have Shamey Coyle arrested you want to know he killed the man they say he did, and then you want to find out who he killed.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who was this policeman he killed?”

“He was just a policeman, that’s all,” Jack said lamely.

“Well, he has a name, hasn’t he?”

“It would be fictitious.”

“So is Shamey Coyle, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Make up a name for him, then. Make him flesh and blood.” “I suppose he could be called Christopher . . . Little.”

“OK. I suppose that will do.”

“Now what?”

“Who is Christopher Little?”

“He’s nineteen. He’s Protestant. He’s a policeman.”

“And he’s been shot.”

“Yes,” said Jack. He thought a minute. “But how?”

“Right. That’s the question you should be asking yourself. Yet that’s not what you asked me when you came through that door there. You didn’t say – look, I’m having trouble finding out how Christopher Little was shot by Shamey Coyle, did you?”

“No.”

“It was me put that into your head.”

“That’s true.”

“And you accept its important?”

“I suppose I do.”

“And now I hope you realize the value of propaganda.”

Jack was startled. He sat there silently looking at the fresh-faced man who stood with his back to the living-room door, a foot raised with the sole flat against one of the panels. For the first time Jack began to see how far he had been led in a certain direction to consider a concept he had not even entertained.

“If you want to write a play about us, you’ll have to start from the point of view of propaganda. For instance, do we need your play?”

“You might when it’s finished.”

“If we liked it, it would be because it suits our point of view.”

“So, whatever we do, as far as you’re concerned, will only be authentic if it follows your line?”