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Back Darkest Truth Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. COVER
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  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. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. Acknowledgements

‘It makes sense,’ I said. ‘He changed everything about himself. Of course he’d have changed his name too. But you need to be searching for him under his original name now. Donnie Bryant may have acquired US citizenship, but he’s not American. He’s Irish. He’s the ex-education officer of Cork Film Festival. And his real name is Daniel O’Brien.’

46

Marie Wade had been right in her recollection: the former education officer was from Clare, from the Gort Road in Ennis. Estranged from his family following his parents’ acrimonious separation, he had studied art in Limerick and worked a succession of short-term jobs before meeting up with Jeremy Gill in Cork in 1998.

The guards found Donnie Bryant at Shannon Airport, in the queue for a Ryanair flight. If he had made it to Lanzarote, he could have lived very comfortably at Esther Gill’s holiday apartment for a long time without being caught. He had enough cash on him to last several months and he had dyed his hair dark brown. He had on Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and a ‘Dodgers’ official merchadise baseball cap turned backwards. But his Irish passport gave his name as Daniel O’Brien. And he was going nowhere.

Disappointingly, the station didn’t have one of those two-way mirrors you see on the TV cop shows. Instead, Sadie and I were hunched over a laptop in Lenihan’s office, watching a live feed from Interview Room 3, now occupied by Donnie Bryant and his solicitor, and Lenihan and one of the detectives Lenihan hadn’t introduced me to.

I was glad that Donnie had been caught, but I wasn’t at all happy with what he’d been saying ever since. Still talking in that ridiculous Californian accent, he had made a full confession, taking on all responsibility for Rhona’s death; for everything, it seemed. Lenihan hadn’t yet asked Donnie if he knew where Shergar was, but I had a hunch he’d admit to the horse’s kidnap if he thought it might help Jeremy. Donnie absolved the Gills of all guilt, including the allegations of sexual misbehaviour made by Christopher Dalton. Donnie had never seen any of that: Jeremy was a gentleman who never laid a finger on anyone. That part would be easy enough to disprove, and would damage Donnie’s credibility, but he was sticking solidly to the story that he had acted alone, and that Esther had driven him in fear of her life.

‘Why did you kill Rhona, Donnie?’ Lenihan kept asking.