‘No, I haven’t heard yet, Muireann. But I’m off-duty. When I’m off-duty, they usually give me some peace. Who was he, this young fellow?’

Muireann paused, as if she were making sure that nobody could hear her.

‘He was one of that lot they call the High Five, at least I think he was. Students making their own drugs and flogging them round the clubs. I don’t know what his actual name was. Himself told Brez to throw him out but Brez went and stabbed him instead.’

‘Did you see Brez do it?’

‘No. He stabbed him down in the jacks and then came up and told us about it. But I never saw himself so angry! I mean, he didn’t just give out to Brez, he ate the head off him! We all had to do a legger and swear that we were never there when it happened.’

Katie was about to ask Muireann if she had seen any gardaí arrive at the Zombie Lounge when she heard a man’s voice in the background. From what she could make out, he seemed to be asking Muireann what in the name of eff she was doing. Muireann immediately rang off, and Katie knew better than to try and ring her back.

She rang Sergeant Ryan O’Farrell because she knew that he was on duty at Anglesea tonight. When he answered he sounded as if he were in the middle of a shouting match with somebody who was very drunk.

‘Sergeant O’Farrell, it’s DS Maguire. I’ve heard that there’s been a stabbing at the Zombie Lounge tonight.’

‘Will you ever shut your stupid face, you eejit? Sorry, ma’am, I don’t mean you. Yes, we had the call about an hour ago. Up the yard with you, you’re totally fluthered, go on! I don’t want to see you in here again until you’re sober! Sorry again, ma’am – your man’s off on his way now. We’ve half a dozen uniforms down to the Zombie already, and we’ll be sending more, because there was over a hundred clubbers there and we’ll be after taking the names of every one of them. I’ve informed DI Fitzpatrick and as far as I know Walsh and Cullen are on their way there, too.’

‘Do we know exactly what happened?’

‘A fellow was stabbed, that’s all I know so far. He was attacked in the downstairs toilets but he managed to make his way upstairs to the dance floor before he collapsed. The paramedics were there within less than fifteen minutes but there was nothing they could do for him. He was cut right open and died from shock and loss of blood, that’s what Garda Gogarty told me.’

‘Any arrests made so far?’

‘No, ma’am. And we’ve found no witnesses yet.’