‘I’m aware of the name, Owen, and who they’re supposed to be, but so far we have no evidence that their existence is anything but hearsay and we certainly have no evidence that Tadhg Kimmons was one of them.’

‘But he was a pharmacy student. And the High Five are all supposed to be pharmacy students, cooking up their own drugs in their college laboratories, to sell on the streets. It seems kind of obvious, don’t you think, that Tadhg Kimmons must have been one of them?’

‘Again, that’s a consideration I have to take on board. But I’m not a detective in a cheap crime novel, Owen. I don’t rely on hunches and flashes of inspiration. I rely on evidence. My homicide team will be looking into any number of possibilities, many of which wouldn’t even occur to you, and at the same time our Technical Bureau will be examining the crime scene and other likely locations for forensic evidence that will lead us to Tadhg Kimmons’ murderer. And, believe me, we’ll find him, I promise you that.’

‘Oh, well, that’s reassuring, I have to admit. You’ll find him like you’ve found out who cremated Justice Garrett Quinn, and who blew Billy Hagerty’s head off in broad daylight outside The Weavers?’

‘Just because those investigations are not yet concluded, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be.’

‘Fair play to you, DS Maguire. I’m waiting with bated breath here. I only hope I don’t spiflicate from lack of oxygen.’

Katie answered more questions from Dan Keane and a woman reporter from the Irish Times. It turned out that she had come down especially from Dublin, because a similar group of students from the School of Chemistry at Trinity College had been caught selling drugs in the pubs along Temple Bar. They had called themselves the Holy Trinity.

Finally, Rionach Barr said, ‘Is there any kind of reassurance you can give to the parents of young people who’ll be going out clubbing tonight to the Zombie Lounge – or any other disco in the city? Are they in any kind of danger?’

‘I don’t think so, Rionach,’ Katie told him. ‘The Zombie Lounge is closed for the time being while the Technical Bureau carry out a thorough forensic examination. I’ve reason to believe, though, that this was a one-off incident, and that there won’t be any similar attacks in the Zombie or any other clubs.’

Superintendent Pearse said, ‘For the next few days at least we’re putting on extra patrols at night, both uniformed and plain clothes, and our officers will be visiting each of the nightclubs in the city centre. As DS Maguire has just told you, we’re fairly confident that there won’t be any repeats of what happened at the Zombie Lounge.’