He shook his head. “No, although it wasn’t as if anyone was helping us to catch them either. Not even the wife, although it’s clear she knew Derek, at least, had something to do with it. He was keeping her quiet pretending he knew where the money was hidden.”

“Was Bob just going to take off with the money, then? With her and the kids?” I asked.

“Looks like it.” He handed me the bowl of olives and I took one. “We still have no idea where he stashed it, although the wizards will be going through all the financials so we’ll see what we can turn up.”

I popped the olive in my mouth. “So, they’re both pleading guilty. It’s sad really. Neither of them has anything very much to come home to.”

“No,” he said thoughtfully. “Both their lives were dominated by Bob Jameson. Mary was clearly distraught at what happened. But with Derek, it’s strange, you’d think he’d have some regrets, having caused the death of his own twin. But he seemed very calm, still seems to be from what I’ve heard.” He smiled. “He’s teaching fitness classes in Cloverhill.”

Cloverhill was the remand prison in Dublin.

“A bit of a cold fish,” I said, picking out another olive. I was hungry. I wondered what Molloy was cooking.

“Possibly not always that way,” Molloy said, taking another sip of his wine. “The Sligo Gardai have arrested Chris Bennett, by the way. He’s admitted supplying the snake to Derek. That’s why he was outside the B & B on Friday night.”

I nodded. So, he wasn’t trying to hurt Lissa any further. It didn’t change what he had done to her already, but I was relieved about that, at least.

“Derek and Chris met doing Ironman competitions.” Molloy smiled mischievously. “I hadn’t told you before, but Chris brought the snake up on Thursday and stored it in the yard in your office, and then camped on your couch for the rest of the weekend when he got trapped because of the floods.”

“I knew it!” I said. “I knew I’d heard something when I was in there on Saturday night. That’s why I found the office locked on Thursday. He’d arrived with his buddy in a box.”

“Now in the hands of a reptile specialist, you’ll be glad to hear,” Molloy added. “None the worse for his ordeal.”

“Good.” I might be uneasy around snakes, but it didn’t stop me wanting a good home for it. “Will Chris be charged with anything?”

“We’ll have to wait for the DPP on that. He says that the arrangement was that in return for supplying the snake, Derek would try and get some of Chris’s family’s money back from Bob. I don’t know how realistic a possibility that was.”