‘I still have a gut feeling that the O’Flynns were behind this,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘I mean, how much of a coincidence was it that Justice Quinn was killed on the very morning before he was due to pass sentence on Donal Hagerty? The O’Flynns have tried intimidating judges and jurors more than once before, haven’t they? And at least three or four of the O’Flynn gang were sitting in the public gallery almost every single day of Hagerty’s trial, giving the jury the evil eye. You know – if you dare to find him guilty we’ll happily rip your lungs out for you, given half a chance.’

‘You have to admit that they’re cute hoors, though, the O’Flynns,’ said Detective Sergeant Begley. ‘They always pay some poor amadán to do their dirty deeds for them. We’re ninety-nine per cent certain that they paid Donal Hagerty to shoot Michael Riordan, but there’s never a hope in hell of proving it. You might as well try to prove that it was Sonny O’Neill who shot Michael Collins back in 1922, even though everybody in the whole of Ireland knows damn well that it was him.’

Katie was still looking through the list of Justice Quinn’s convictions when Detective Inspector Fitzpatrick and Detective Caffrey came in, accompanied by Bill Phinner. Bill was wearing a baggy green sweater and baggy brown corduroy trousers and his usual funereal expression. Katie thought: Jesus, you look exactly how I feel.

‘How’s the form, ma’am?’ asked Detective Inspector Patrick. ‘We’ve just had a report from the technical experts at Midleton. They’ve completed their preliminary examination of the Honda that we believe was used in the Billy Hagerty shooting, and so we thought we’d give you an update.’

‘Okay, grand. What’s the story, Bill?’

‘Nothing much, I’m sorry to say. There’s no fingerprints on the door handles or the steering wheel except for those of the owner and his family. They’re not yet back from Gran Canaria but their next-door neighbour has a key to their house in Douglas and they gave us permission to go in and take samples. They’re cutting their holliers short and flying back to Cork this afternoon.’

‘Nothing on the floors or the seats?’

‘The carpets and the upholstery were all badly fire-damaged. They had them vinyl seat covers and those were totally shrivelled up, so there was no hope of retrieving any fibres or DNA from them. There’s that cartridge case, of course. It’s a 9x19mm Parabellum round, which had traces of SR4756, which is a load that scores highly for its firepower. But again – no prints on it.’

‘So the shooters weren’t as careless as we’d hoped.’