Swallow hauled himself into the saloon. He drew his Webley with one hand and held his warrant card aloft with the other. There were gasps from passengers as he made his way along the saloon. A woman screamed.

‘Police!’ he shouted. ‘I’m a police officer. There’s no danger.’

He reached towards where Werner sat and pointed the Webley at his chest.

‘Stefan Werner,’ he said loudly, ‘I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Alice Flannery.’

Chapter 41

There was an air of something close to elation as John Mallon stepped up to chair the crime conference at Exchange Court. Every member of G-Division had known since the morning that Major Nigel Kelly, the detested chief of the Upper Yard’s secret service office, was in custody in the Bridewell. When word spread that Swallow had Stefan Werner in the cells at Exchange Court for the Alice Flannery murder, the atmosphere became almost exuberant.

‘As you know, men, we’ve got suspects in custody for the two murders,’ Mallon told the score of G-men and uniformed constables who had gathered.

‘A senior member of the secret service department has been identified as having been at the scene of Nellie Byrne’s murder at Chapel Court, Gloucester Street. And the late Alice Flannery’s former employer, Stefan Werner, was arrested in connection with her death this afternoon by Detective Inspector Swallow.’

A quiet murmur of approval ran around the room. Stephen Doolan whispered to Swallow, ‘Well done.’

Tired constables nodded in quiet satisfaction. The weeks that had followed the murders, with no progress of any kind, had challenged morale and dampened spirits. Every man would feel better with things looking up.

‘But we still need all the evidence we can get on these two cases,’ Mallon said. ‘Neither of the suspects has made a confession. We’re relying on circumstantial evidence and any additional witness testimony we can get. On the positive side, it doesn’t seem that there’s any connection between the two deaths, so we’re not dealing with some sort of a madman.’

Another murmur of satisfaction susurrated around the parade room.

‘So, Mallon continued, ‘first we’ll review what we have on the Nellie Byrne murder. Detective Collins, if you please.’

Martin Collins was the book man on the case. He was not the best book man in Exchange Court. That distinction was held by Pat Mossop, followed by Mick Feore. The really good book men not only recorded every item of information on an investigation, but also had a gift for spotting connections or patterns. It wasn’t Collins’s strongest point, but his murder book, the ledger in which every detail of the progress of the investigation was recorded, was invariably accurate and complete.

‘Murder of Helena Moyles, alias Ellen Byrne, alias Nellie Sweet, aged twenty-two years, Chapel Court, Gloucester Street, Dublin on Saturday 9 November last.’