Before long, half a dozen green-uniformed RUC officers in bullet-proof vests came tearing down the corridor. A bull-necked sergeant ordered them to stay where they were and left a constable to keep an eye on them. The area round the toilet was cordoned off and then two men in dark-blue overalls carrying big black cases went in. The phone on Beth’s desk rang, startling them all, and she asked the constable if it was OK to answer it. He nodded, his face blank. The men in the RUC had no love for Hennessy and his associates and Hennessy knew that the constable would probably have preferred them all to have been plastered over the walls by the explosion rather than sitting at the desk and drinking whiskey. While Beth was talking on the phone a CID officer in a sheepskin jacket arrived. He flashed his card to Hennessy and introduced himself as Inspector Greig. Behind him stood a young plain-clothes sergeant, a tall, gangly youth with a small, toothbrush moustache. He had the same couldn’t-give-a-shit look as the uniformed constable.

‘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.