‘Give them a count of ten after they go bursting into the pub, Philip, and then you and your unit go in after them. Michael – your officers can deal with any vehicles that they’ve left outside in the street, can they not? It’s vital that we give the impression that we’ve been called to the incident by one of The Weavers’ staff, or by some bystander in the street. This must never look like a set-up.’

‘Right,’ said Superintendent Pearse. ‘I’ll get the Bord Gáis side of it sorted. I know Denis O’Halloran, the area manager, so that won’t be any problem. I beat him at golf last week and he still owes me seventy-five yoyos.’

‘We can follow Barry Riordan all the way from his home in Farranree tomorrow,’ added Inspector O’Rourke. ‘Pure discreetly, though. We want to make sure that we catch him in flagrante this time. Those cute lawyers of his have managed to get him off too often. Either that, or they always slip his judges a backhander or two.’

‘Do you know, I’ve wondered that myself more than once,’ said Robert. ‘If any of our judges can be bought, like, or blackmailed.’

He looked across at Katie but there was no expression on his face and no hint of a question in his voice. Katie thought: Stop feeling guilty. And stop thinking about Garrett, and the way he smiled at you across the courtroom as soon as he had directed the jury to find Phinean Joyce guilty of rape and murder.

*

When she returned to her office, Katie found Detective O’Donovan and Dr Ailbe Power waiting for her. Dr Power was wearing a plain grey tweed suit but a strong musky perfume and a pair of dangly crystal earrings.

‘What’s the story, doctor?’ she asked her. ‘How did you make out with Doireann?’

‘Oh, dear Lord, she’s one tragic individual, that girl.’

‘But she opened up to you all right?’

‘Oh yes. But, like I say, tragic. She fits almost exactly the stereotype that I was telling you about before – the person who always feels that they’re excluded from society for one reason or another. She believes that her height and her appearance will always make it impossible for her to find love and be happy. That’s why she’s been so determined to make sure that nobody else could be happy, either.’

Katie said, ‘Is she still insistent that she didn’t drown that Roisin Carroll?’

‘Totally.’

‘Do you think there’s a reason for that? She freely confessed to the first six murders, and we have an eyewitness who saw her push Roisin Carroll into the river.’