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Bad Day in Blackrock

Kevin Power
Contents ( 63)
  1. PART ONE
  2. Facts and Values
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. PART TWO
  26. La Belle Epoque
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. PART THREE
  46. Heavy Damage
  47. 41
  48. 42
  49. 43
  50. 44
  51. 45
  52. 46
  53. 47
  54. 48
  55. 49
  56. 50
  57. 51
  58. 52
  59. 53
  60. 54
  61. 55
  62. 56
  63. 57
cover

BAD DAY IN
BLACKROCK

titlepage

First published in Ireland by The Lilliput Press, 2008
First published in Great Britain by Pocket Books, 2010
An imprint of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
A CBS COMPANY

Copyright © Kevin Power, 2008

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
Pocket Books & Design is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster Inc.

The right of Kevin Power to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
1st Floor
222 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB

www.simonandschuster.co.uk

Simon & Schuster Australia
Sydney

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84739-939-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84739-940-3

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed by CPI Cox & Wyman, Reading, Berkshire RG1 8EX

To Jim, Joan, and Andy

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This novel is a work of the imagination. While certain aspects of the narrative have been inspired by news coverage of actual events, all of the characters – their actions and experiences, their histories and destinies – are fictional, and are not intended to represent actual persons, living or dead. The same applies to the educational, medical, social and legal institutions that appear in the text.

This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks, and shows no cause without Why the man dies.

Hamlet, IV:4

PART ONE

Facts and Values

1

They came to the big white house on Inishfall. This much is true, this much we know for sure.

When the last of the trials was over, Richard Culhane’s parents packed up and sold their house in Dublin. They went to live for an indefinite period in their windswept house on Inishfall, an island off the coast of Kerry where the Culhanes had holidayed every summer for the first twelve years of Richard’s life. I’ve never been to Inishfall, but I have seen a picture of the house the Culhanes keep there – it was printed in two or three of the newspapers when the story as a whole was winding down. It’s a weatherbeaten two-storey manor, painted white, though the paint is turning grey and psoriatic in the rain blown in from the sea. The house looks as though it should be surrounded by the ruins of a vast estate. This is proper, I suppose. It has become the final refuge of a fallen family.

I haven’t seen the Culhanes in several months. I was there, outside the Dublin courthouse, when the last of the verdicts came through and the family attempted to leave. For two or three minutes – a frozen moment, it might have been a dozen times that long – the Culhanes were marooned on the steps of the courthouse, their exit barred by the ranks of journalists and television cameras. Peter Culhane stood with his arm around his wife, holding her so tightly he might have been posing for a joke photograph – See? It’s scary how much I love my wife! – but he didn’t smile. Eventually the bailiff shouldered a path through the crowd, and the family, with Richard in the lead, a sports jacket pulled up over his head, managed to reach their car.