‘There were several passers-by in the vicinity. But it happened so quickly that nobody saw the suspect push the young woman into the water except for Detective Sergeant Ní Nuallán who saved her – not even her partner, Detective Cushley. As you know, that’s been one of the defining characteristics of all the Lee Pusher’s attacks. They’ve all been totally unexpected and carried out so quick that nobody’s ever sure of what they saw. That’s one of the reasons that it’s taken us all this time to catch her – apart from us not realizing until very recently that she was female, because of how tall she is.’

‘So she’s pushed in eight now that you know of, including this one?’

‘That’s correct. But it’s quite possible that she may have pushed in more. We’ll be questioning her about some of the drownings in the Lee that have so far been unaccounted for.’

‘And was she wearing the same grey tracksuit, the same like she was wearing for all the other times she pushed somebody in?’

‘She was, yes. That was partly how we managed to track her down.’

‘I was going to ask you,’ said Dan Keane. ‘How is DS Ní Nuallán? I’ve already written a grand “Heroine Cop Saves Drowning Woman” piece.’

‘She was suffering from hypothermia and she also took a nasty knock to her head, so she’ll be staying at the Mercy overnight for observation. But it looks like she’s going to be fine altogether, thank you. I’ll be giving her a couple of days off to get over it.’

‘We have a fantastic picture of you giving her the kiss of life, DS Maguire.’

‘Well, it’s only a couple of minutes from here to the South Gate Bridge, and I went straight there as soon as Detective Cushley called it in. I managed to get there just as they were lifting DS Ní Nuallán out of the river.’

Owen Dineen raised his hand. ‘Here’s a question for you. If it had been Chief Superintendent O’Kane who needed CPR, instead of DS Ní Nuallán, would you have given him the kiss of life?’

‘I would have given it to anybody who had almost drowned, Mr Dineen,’ said Katie. ‘Even you.’

She answered him tonelessly, as if she were neither insulted nor amused. However, she was sure that in asking that question he had inadvertently let slip more about his vendetta against her than he had intended. Perhaps it wasn’t irrefutable proof, but it was highly revealing.

She smiled, said ‘Thanks a million’ to all the reporters, and went back upstairs, feeling that at last she might be getting the edge.

*

Three people were waiting in her office for her: Bill Phinner, his new ballistics expert Aoife Shaugnessy and Detective Padragain Scanlan.