‘Good mornin’, Inspector Swalla’.’ Boyle greeted him formally for the benefit of the constables and sergeants gathered around. He took Swallow conspiratorially by the arm and walked him a few paces to the edge of the lane. ‘I’m afraid that things have taken a turn for the worse,’ Boyle intoned solemnly. ‘The victim o’ this outrage, Miss Alice Flannery, died at the Baggot Street Hospital at 9.15 this mornin’. Ye’re dealin’ now with a murder.’

Chapter 3

‘You should come to the meeting, Maria. If we go early we can get good seats. I promise you it will be very interesting, and you can be back here by six o’clock to take care of business for the night.’

Harriet Swallow enjoyed the company of her brother’s fiancée and landlady. True, there was no formal engagement between Swallow and Maria Walsh as such, but fiancée was a convenient term in an arrangement that went well beyond that of landlady and lodger but fell short of matrimony.

The relationship had not been smooth. Swallow had rented the room over M & M Grant’s for two years. It was, of course, contrary to police regulations to lodge on licensed premises. He squared his conscience on that score by telling himself that his accommodation was located over, rather than in, M & M Grant’s. It might be an interesting legal point, he sometimes reflected, if it came to an issue. Grant’s had the added advantage that it was convenient to Exchange Court and the Castle.

What started as a simple lodging arrangement had gradually blossomed. At first, he started to help Maria in the business in his off-duty hours. Because had grown up in a public house he understood its routines. The customers at Grant’s were different in many ways from the country folk who patronised Swallow’s of Newcroft, but dealing with them required much the same qualities he had seen his parents exercise. A publican had to be cheerful without being too fulsome; tolerant but firm on behaviour within the house; understanding of human frailty but not indulgent of excess. Grant’s was a well-ordered house, and few troublemakers crossed the threshold. The presence of a G-man sent a clear message to those that did: they would misbehave at their peril.

In time, the relationship developed into intimacy. It was at once private and discreet, as well as being apparent to anyone with eyes to see. But when Maria, five years widowed, had pressed Swallow for a commitment, he had funked it. She would have liked him to finish with the police and come into Grant’s as her husband and business partner. It was a generous and tempting offer, but he was unwilling to relinquish being a G-man. Instead, when his promotion to inspector came through, with an enhanced lodging allowance to match his new rank, he had moved out to share a rented house on Heytesbury Street with his sister.