‘I understand how you feel,’ Mallon said. ‘If it was me I’d feel just the same. I’m really very sorry for you and Maria. It’s a shocking thing to have happened. Every man in G-Division is outraged about it. There might be other ways of dealing with Major Kelly though. I’m going to tell you something important in a little while.’

‘With respect, chief, that’s not nearly good enough. My wife is lying above in the Rotunda hospital. Our dead child will never see the light of day. Maria might have died herself if it wasn’t for getting good medical care so quickly. Somebody’s going to pay for it all, one way or another.’

Mallon groaned.

‘I can only say again how sorry I am. And Elizabeth too. She’s asked me to express her particular sympathy to you both. It’s a hard thing to lose an unborn child.’

‘We didn’t “lose” the child, chief,’ Swallow snapped. ‘A gang of blackguards broke into our home and killed it. This was murder, except we can’t charge anybody for it.’

‘I’ll put in another request to see Smith Berry,’ Mallon said. ‘But if he agrees to it we’ll go together. You’ve got to control yourself on this. We’ll need to agree on what you say and what you want from him. And you’ve got to be prepared for a very hard response. He’ll stand behind his people.’

‘Then he’d better know that I’ll stand for myself and my wife and our lost child. Either he deals with Kelly or they can have my resignation. And I won’t go quietly. I’ve got my own contacts in the newspapers too, and I’ll use them. These bloody people count on us to hold the country for them. We do a bloody good job of it, and this is the thanks we get. I’ll want every policeman and their families the length and breadth of Ireland to know how they’ll be treated if it suits the Smith Berrys and his like.’

Mallon raised a restraining hand.

‘Enough, Joe. You’ll say things you could regret. If you decided to hand in your papers, nobody could blame you, and I certainly wouldn’t. But if that’s your plan, stay quiet about it. They’ll find some way of sacking you instead. You’ll be out. No pension, and your name blackened. If you’ll be patient, as I said, there’s very likely to be another way of dealing with it.’

‘The hell with their pension,’ Swallow answered. ‘I don’t need their pension. There’s a business to be run in Thomas Street. The truth is I should have pulled out of this bloody job long ago like Maria asked me to.’