“Never saw him before in my life,” he said. “Is he the guy you suspect of killing my boss?”

“Let’s just say he is a person of interest,” she said.

This time I did see a flicker of amusement cross his face. It was fleeting but definitely there. He does know more, I thought.

“Thank you. I’ll report back that you have never met him,” she said. “And I also wanted to check something else you said. I am told that you said Mr. Roach had no visitors.”

“That’s right.”

“But it seems that his doctor came to see him.”

The surprise on his face was obvious. “His doctor? Well, yes. But that’s not a visitor, is it? He had tradesmen arriving all the time, delivering groceries and meat. He had a barber come to cut his hair. But that’s not proper visitors. Yeah, a doctor came when he wasn’t feeling well.”

“An American doctor?”

“That’s right. His doctor from back in the States was making a trip to Ireland so he stopped by to check on the boss’s health.”

“And where is he now? Would he be available to testify?”

“To what?” Mickey’s voice rose. “He was here and back in the States long before Mr. Roach was killed. So please tell your barrister guy that he’s wasting his time and energy. It’s just as I told the Garda. Nobody came to the house that I knew of. The only person was Lord Kilhenny and he and Mr. Roach got into a fight that very afternoon. The guy is as guilty as hell. What more can he possibly need to know?”

“I’m not privy to the direction the investigation will be taking,” she said haughtily. “But we will be checking on some other people who were seen near the castle recently, as well as Mr. Roach’s telephone logs.”

“What does any of this matter when Kilhenny’s prints were the only ones on the club?” he demanded.

He stepped toward her and I took the opportunity to snap another picture as the setting sun highlighted his face.

“Interesting, that, don’t you think?” she said, standing her ground and eyeing him calmly. “A club that has been in existence for several thousand years and yet has acquired only one set of fingerprints during that whole time?”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it?” he said. “Mr. Roach was getting ready to send it to an auction. He had me take it down and polish it so it looked good.” This time there was a definite smirk.

“Ah, I see,” she said. “Well, thank you, you’ve been most helpful. I won’t trouble you any longer. So I presume you’ll go back to America when this is all over?”

“Maybe.”