Before he could start the engine, he and Annie had the inevitable argument over which music they would listen to on the journey. She wanted U2; he wanted The Dixie Chicks. They each secretly liked both. Annie wasn’t ready to ‘make nice’, and so Bono won. It amused Cormac how much Annie loved U2. He was sure it was due to his brainwashing. He had loved U2 and particularly Bono’s lyrics since he had plagiarised ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ for an English A-level essay. They had been driving for five minutes towards Belfast before Cormac realised that he was driving in the wrong direction and he didn’t actually know where Maggie lived. He was annoyed with himself. How could he not know where his own sister lived? He was forced to call Tom, who arranged to meet him at the Royal Victoria Hospital on the edge of the Falls Road. They arrived at the meeting place before Tom and sat in silence. Cormac watched the people passing in their cars and on foot and sensed the palpable change in atmosphere. This place had once been so full of tensions, of armoured vehicles, of bloody misery. It was somehow different today. People seemed lighter on their feet, to be smiling more, to be happier. Tom knocked on the window and startled him.

‘Sorry, Tom, I was just marvelling at how different this place feels’.

His older brother just smiled and shook his head.

‘You always were a dreamer, Cormac.’

He was pricked by Tom’s condescension. He got out of the car and stood next to him.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean don’t scratch the surface too hard!’

It was his turn now.

‘Sorry, Tom, are we talking in clichés now?’

‘No, clever shite, all I’m saying is there may be no armoured vehicles, and a few barricades have come down, but this place is still full of bitterness and worse still, it’s full of nutcases who are still full of bitterness.’

Tom’s words, coming so soon after Harry’s foreboding, made Cormac feel uncomfortable. He glanced into the car to ensure Annie wasn’t listening.

‘On the subject of nutcases, Tom, I think Liam Conlon called at mum’s house this morning.’

He looked both ways before answering.

‘Tell me you’re joking?’

‘I wish I was, but from the description Annie gave me, I’m pretty sure it was him.’

Tom took Cormac’s arm and pulled him closer.

‘If you’re pretty sure it was him, what the fuck are you still doing here? He is king fucking nutcase!’

‘I didn’t want to scare Annie, so my intention is to have lunch at Maggie’s, stay at Harry’s tonight and get out of here in the morning.’

He followed Tom back up the hill through Killane and onto Maggie’s cottage. He checked his rear view mirror several times just in case and was sure that no one was following. He was right. No one was following. No one was following because they already knew were he was headed.