‘It seems as if you’ve had a wee bit of bother, Mr Hennessy,’ said Greig. ‘Unless it was one of your own boys being a tad careless.’

Hennessy shrugged. ‘These things happen,’ he said. ‘Can I offer you a whiskey, Inspector?’

Greig refused, as Hennessy knew he would. ‘I suppose it’s a waste of time asking if you have any idea who might have done this?’ said Greig, smiling through tight lips.

Kavanagh laughed sharply but Hennessy threw him a withering look. It was bad enough having the RUC in the office, but if they antagonised them they’d end up being hauled in for questioning and Hennessy didn’t want the inconvenience or the publicity.

‘Anyway, you’d better take care in future, Mr Hennessy.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It looks to have been more of a warning than anything else. According to our forensic boys it was a home-made device, in fact device is hardly the right word. They reckon it was a couple of bottles of chemicals that did the damage.’

Murphy remembered the bottles in The Chinaman’s carrier bag but said nothing.

‘An accident?’ said Hennessy.

Greig smiled thinly again. ‘I hardly think they tied themselves to the toilet cistern,’ he said. ‘No, it was a simple chemical bomb, the sort we used to make as kids. Sulphuric acid and ethylene glycol. Antifreeze to you and me. Tie a bottle of each together and drop on to a hard surface. Bang! Did you never do that when you were a kid, Mr Hennessy? Great crack.’ He could see by the look on the lawyer’s face that the answer was no. Greig shrugged. ‘I suppose we went to different schools, eh? Anyway, it would make a big enough explosion to wreck the room, and you wouldn’t be laughing if you were in there, but it never stood a chance of damaging the building. It wasn’t what you’d call a serious bomb, if you get my drift. Which makes me think that perhaps it was a warning. I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking if you’ve got any enemies, is there Mr Hennessy?’ Greig was enjoying the Sinn Fein adviser’s obvious discomfort.

‘I’ll certainly keep you informed if anyone comes to mind, Inspector,’ Hennessy replied.

‘I won’t hold my breath.’

‘Probably best,’ said Hennessy.

‘Can I show you out, Inspector?’ asked Beth, sensing that underneath the banter her boss was beginning to lose his temper.

Greig hesitated as if loath to let Hennessy off the hook, but then he nodded and followed her out of the office. His sergeant looked hard at Murphy and Kavanagh as he went out, but the two men returned his gaze with easy smiles. They were long past the stage of fearing the police, the army, or anyone else who tried to impose their authority. Greig went into the toilet to speak to the forensic team again. The sergeant turned to speak to Beth but she closed the door firmly in his face.

Hennessy watched her from the door of his office and, satisfied that she wasn’t in shock, gently closed the door. Kavanagh and Murphy tensed, fearing the sharp edge of Hennessy’s tongue a thousand times more than hard looks from under-age detectives, but his anger wasn’t directed at them.