Victim impact one choice.., p.28
Victim Impact: One Choice, One Decision, Grave Consequences, page 28
The front door of the house they were outside opened. Backlit by the hall light, Isobel could see Mr. O’Neill.
Róisín said, “I’ll wait here for you.”
“It’s cold. I’m sure the O’Neills would want you to come in. We won’t be long.”
“OK.”
As they walked up the path Mr. O’Neill swung the door open more widely. “Come in, come in!”
He ushered them into the sitting room where Mrs. O’Neill came to meet them.
“Mrs. O’Neill –” Isobel said.
“It’s Stella and Gerard.”
Isobel smiled. “Stella, this is a friend of mine, Róisín Magill.”
Róisín reached forward to shake hands. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
Stella gestured to the couch. Isobel and Róisín sat down side by side. Stella took the armchair nearest Isobel and leaned forward. “What have you found out?” Her husband moved to sit on the arm of her chair.
“Charlene is conscious.”
Stella’s eyes filled with tears.
Isobel could see the conflict in them, gladness for the Griffiths, and loss for themselves.
Stella swallowed. “That’s good.”
Isobel reached out a hand to Stella. “I’m here to tell you that Charlene remembers Michael stepping in front of her in the alley when that man launched his attack. She wanted you to know.”
Stella’s hands gripped Isobel’s hand fiercely. “He tried to protect her!”
Isobel nodded.
Tears poured down Stella’s cheeks.
Her husband laid a hand on her back. “It’s all right, love.”
“He was doing the best he could. He was always a kind boy,” Stella whispered as she let go of Isobel and turned into her husband’s shoulder.
Isobel could feel her heart being squeezed until it hurt. Today alone, the lives she had witnessed decimated by the drug ring! Both of these women had lost their sons. Was there no end to the destruction this drug ring could cause? Even as her heart ached she could feel a rage igniting in her belly. Patrick had left information in the hope that someday someone would have a chance at taking down these villains. Maybe Malcolm was right, maybe they had a chance now and if they had then they needed to take it.
“Did Charlene say anything else?”
Isobel snapped her attention back to Stella. “Nothing more about Michael.”
“But there was more?” Stella persisted.
Isobel sat straighter. “Yes, and for that reason Charlene could be in danger if certain people knew that she remembered what had happened.”
“So it’s not over?” said Gerard.
“I knew it!” said Stella.
“No, it’s not over. You cannot say anything to anyone about Charlene being conscious and remembering. This was for your ears only. Absolutely no one else.”
Stella sat up straight and took her husband’s hand. “We understand. Are you going to get more of them?”
Isobel took a deep breath. “I hope so. We have a window of a couple of days, I think. If we can catch more of the people responsible it’s going to be now.”
“And when it’s over you will come back and tell me everything?”
Isobel nodded. “I will.”
Stella nodded back. “Thank you for this. It may not seem like anything to you but it’s everything to me. The police suggested to me that my son dealing drugs in the alley is what got him killed and Charlene injured. It may have been just a theory but I couldn’t get it out of my head.” Her eye filled with tears and she covered them with her hand. She took a shuddering breath and then looked at Isobel. “Now at least that picture is gone and for that I am eternally grateful to you, Isobel, to both of you.”
Isobel gave a small smile.
“You look tired,” Stella said.
“I’m fine.”
“Take care of yourself.”
“I will and I’ll be back in a few days.”
Gerard stood up. “Thank you, Isobel. Thank you both.”
As Isobel walked towards the car, her phone rang.
“Eoin?”
“Isobel, we need to talk. I have news.”
“I’m with people. I have news for you too. Let me get back to the hotel to Malcolm and the others.”
“How long will you be? Are you on Zoom? Can we do a call then?”
“I’ll be at least an hour.” She glanced at Róisín who nodded. “Let’s do a call in an hour and a half. Jack will get me organised for Zoom. Talk to you then.”
“Bye.”
They sat into the car.
“Is that about the case too?” Róisín asked.
“Yes. Eoin is a garda. He and another friend, Alanna, also a garda, were looking into something for me.”
“You’ll let me know everything when it’s over, won’t you, Isobel? If anything Patrick left helps, you’ll let me know.”
“Of course.”
“If there is anything I can do to help – lifts, anything – you only have to ask.”
“Thanks, Róisín. You’ve been a huge help already. I mean it. Right now I don’t know what the next step is but I know one thing, we need a miracle – so if you pray, now is the time to pray.”
Róisín met Isobel’s eyes for a moment. “I will.”
Chapter 43
Isobel waved goodbye to Róisín and hurried into the reception area of her hotel.
Malcolm stood up. “Isobel.”
“Oh, Malcolm, I was going to ring you. There’s a meeting.”
“I know. Zoom meeting in half an hour.”
“I need to call Jack.”
Malcolm raised his hands. “Whoa! I’ve already called Jack. He and Nathan are coming and so are Damien and Inspector Williams.”
Isobel took a deep breath. “Oh, good.”
“The meeting’s in my room, Room 325. You have half an hour. But, Isobel, you need to calm down.”
Isobel could feel her anger rising.
Malcolm took hold of her arms gently. “Isobel, I’m not trying to order you around but you do need to take a breath. Everyone is at this meeting because you’ve brought us together. For God’s sake, you even have people across the world chipping in!”
Isobel frowned.
“Peter and Patricia in Lanzarote. It sounded better the way I said it.”
Isobel smiled in spite of herself.
“One of your greatest gifts is getting people to work together as a team and whether you like it or not you’re pivotal to the team.” He gestured with his thumb. “All the officers North and South have had hard things to come to terms with. What have you done today? Talked to a woman who was nearly killed, talked to a solicitor whose friend died a few days later?”
“Talked to Michael’s mum.”
“Exactly. Harrowing stuff. Take a breath. Reboot.”
Isobel took a shuddering breath. She could feel her mind calming, the tension in her body loosening slightly. “You’re right. I’ll be at your room in time for the meeting.”
She took the lift up. Even as she opened the door of her room, she was kicking off her shoes. She might not have time for a bath but she could have a freshen up and that would help.
Twenty minutes later she was pulling on clean clothes when she heard a knock at the door. “Just a minute!” She zipped up her ankle boots and checked herself in the mirror. She felt so much better and she looked refreshed.
Malcolm was standing outside.
He stepped in and closed the door.
Isobel knew at once there was something bothering him. She walked back to her bedside table and strapped on her watch.
Malcolm sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to turn round. “There’s one other thing.”
Isobel raised an eyebrow.
“Dave’s here. He’s coming to the meeting,”
“What? I thought he was helping you watch Robin and the manager of the Org shop?”
“He has been but Noah and Rachel are keeping an eye on our two guys until we finish the meeting, then Noah is with me on Manager Man and Dave and Jack are on Robin.”
“And they know to just watch?”
“Watch and photograph. Believe me, I’ve been very clear with them. I’ll fill you in on what we have at the meeting. It’s good for Dave to see how well his son has been doing and how much he has helped and is helping . . . and I think it’s no harm for him to see what you actually do. He’s been vocal at times in his lack of support and, if he wants to help now and if he comes to appreciate what you do, I think that’s a good thing.”
Isobel shrugged.
Malcolm stood up and put one arm around her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go and meet your motley crew.”
When Malcolm opened the door to his room it was already quite crowded. He had obtained extras chairs and people were also sitting on either side of the bed. Nathan was there with a computer open beside the television.
Jack got up and approached Isobel. As everyone chatted, he said to her, “I hope you don’t mind Dad coming to the meeting.”
Isobel could see the worry in his eyes. She smiled. “No, it’s fine.”
Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “He knows only a little bit about everything but he has been helping and he wanted to come. I’m glad he’s here.”
That was enough for Isobel. She looked over at Dave and smiled. He smiled in response.
Nathan called, “Jack!”
Jack moved over to consult with him and Malcolm followed.
Damien stood up and muttered to Isobel, “I’ve found something from the archives of CCTV of the docks as Peter suggested. Are he and Patricia on the call?”
“Yes.”
“Malcolm, We’re ready to go!” Nathan said.
“OK, everyone!” Malcolm called out.
Isobel saw the screen of the television move through a number of changes as Zoom set up the meeting. Suddenly she was looking at a screen with three locations. There was the scene of the bed with Malcolm sitting on it, one of Patricia and Peter sitting side by side at a table and another of Eoin and Alanna – Isobel recognised the window behind them: they were in Eoin’s office in Henry Street in Limerick.
Malcolm introduced everyone. As he named the people in the hotel room, Nathan allowed Eoin, Alanna, Peter and Patricia to see each person briefly on screen.
“Right,” said Malcolm. “We’ve a lot to get through and many different pieces of the puzzle to fit together.”
“And, boy, do we have a tale to tell you!” said Eoin.
Malcolm grinned. “Glad to hear it.” He looked over at Isobel. “Where do you want to start, Isobel?”
Isobel only knew Malcolm as a retired officer but she could see his experience shining through. Already he had taken the position of Chair of the meeting and now he was asking her to choose the starting point. She felt herself relax. She was so glad that she had Malcolm for a friend. Already she could feel her mind shift from worry towards clarity.
“Yesterday we gathered information that identified Superintendent Bernard Taylor as a corrupt officer and also as a murderer,” she said.
She heard Dave gasp, paused unintentionally and then refocused.
“The source of that information identified the victim, Richard Castles, as an undercover garda. They further suggested that Castles may have been murdered because of information coming from another garda whom he called ‘The Prop’. Given that we might have a leak in the South, Eoin and Alanna were going to see if they could find out anything more for us,” she paused, “without any other gardaí knowing and potentially being tipped off. I presume that means you didn’t tell Aaron, Eoin?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Alanna added. “Just as well – I heard you never liked him, Isobel – good instincts – he’s so arrogant.”
Isobel hadn’t realised that Alanna wasn’t a fan of Aaron’s either. “Why don’t you tell us what you’ve found out, Alanna?”
Eoin gestured for Alanna to continue.
She said, “If Richard Castles was an undercover garda then he was most likely one of the drug squad. One of their inspectors, an Inspector Daly, retired two or three years ago. Since he’s out of the force now, he seemed like the safest person to talk to.”
“Alanna knows someone who helps retired officers. She was able to get his address,” said Eoin.
“He still lives in Dublin and Eoin and I went to see him this morning in Malahide.”
Dave whispered to Malcolm: “On the outskirts of Dublin, along the bay, about two hours from Limerick.”
Isobel frowned at the interruption.
“Thanks,” said Malcolm. “I know where Alanna’s talking about now. Dublin Bay prawns, I’ve heard of those.”
Isobel had forgotten that Malcolm would be unfamiliar with all of the geography.
“The situation was a bit tricky because Daly retired early, depressed, when one of his officers disappeared and another was killed in a car accident,” said Eoin. “He’s a shadow of the man he was, grey-haired, thin, as if he’s lost loads of weight. His wife was there too and she was very protective. But Alanna played a blinder.”
“Hardly a blinder. At the door I asked him if he knew a Richard Castles. I thought the poor man was going to faint. His wife insisted we come in.”
“Naturally they were very cagey – to be honest, Daly didn’t want to talk at all but Alanna explained about Michael being murdered and Charlene’s injury and eventually he agreed to talk.”
Alanna took up the story again. “Richard Castles was Darren Kelly, one of Daly’s officers. His job was to infiltrate the drug gang in Belfast and find out who the Number One player was. At the time Daly suspected that there was a corrupt PSNI officer but he knew we had a leak in the South also. Only two officers knew what Kelly was up to, himself and Sergeant Wells. Kelly’s cover story here in the South was that he was on sick leave. Daly didn’t know who the leak was, hence they kept Darren Kelly’s undercover work very secret. Before he disappeared, Kelly told Daly that he was getting somewhere. Kelly was sure that very soon he was going to have information about the mysterious boss and then –” Alanna clicked her fingers, “he disappeared.”
“Daly spoke to Kelly one evening and he seemed fine,” said Eoin. “He wasn’t worried, or concerned. And then suddenly he was gone. Kelly seemed to have no inkling that they were on to him.”
“Daly blamed himself and he didn’t do well after Kelly disappeared,” Alanna said. “He was out on sick leave and retired soon after that. He couldn’t face the job. He went from being a capable officer to being depressed, anxious, having nightmares and being paranoid.”
“I think Darren Kelly was his protégé,” Eoin said.
“Been there, done that,” said Malcolm. “It’s part of the service, the mentoring, the passing on of things. There are always certain younger officers who mean more to you.”
Eoin nodded. “You go the extra mile for them.”
“We’ve all done that,” Williams said.
Damien glanced at him.
“Basically Darren was like a son to him,” said Eoin.
Dave put his arm around Jack’s shoulders.
Isobel could feel the sense of loss in the room, not just for Darren but for other officers not named.
After a few moments, Alanna spoke again. “I think one of the things that really played on Daly’s mind was that he was at a party the night that Darren disappeared. Daly spoke to him at about seven o’clock. He was fine. Then he went to his sergeant’s birthday, Sergeant Gary Wells, the other officer who knew about Kelly’s undercover work.”
“What date was the night that Darren disappeared?” Isobel asked.
“30th September,” Damien said.
“Yes, it was,” said Alanna.
Isobel turned and looked at Damien as did everyone in the bedroom.
“It sounds like you have another source of information,” said Eoin.
“You go ahead,” said Damien. “I’ll add what I’ve found when you’re finished.”
Isobel looked back at the screen. “Is there anything more?”
Alanna tilted her head. “Oh, yes.” She gestured to Eoin to go ahead.
“OK. Here’s the thing: Sergeant Gary Wells, whose birthday party was on 30th of September, was killed a fortnight later in a hit-and-run accident.”
Isobel shook her head. “God, that’s awful.”
“And, according to Daly, he had taken Darren’s disappearance very badly too. So Alanna got one of her gut instincts. Nothing would do her but that we should see footage of that party. Daly didn’t have any but it turns out that Mrs. Wells and her three children live in the row of houses behind the Dalys. The Dalys are very good to them since Sergeant Wells died. So we went round to visit.”
Alanna said, “It was awful. The eldest girl is about ten and has long blonde hair like her mum. She’s called Trudy. Then there’s a younger boy who looks like his dad and a toddler called Connor. The house was festooned for Halloween in orange streamers and fake cobwebs. There are pictures of the family, including the father, everywhere in the house.”
There was nothing to say. Isobel knew that Alanna was imagining how her partner Zoe would be if anything happened to her.
“Obviously, Mrs. Wells was very upset,” she went on. “She described the party as the last night that Gary was happy. That was a red flag to me. She mentioned that Gary was upset about Darren Kelly going missing but, when I asked her about seeing the video of the party, she nearly lost it. She accused me of stirring things up now and said that Gary was a good officer, that she wasn’t going to have anyone blaming him for anything or besmirching his memory.” Alanna took a deep breath. “I kind of knew that we were on to something.”
Isobel thought about what they all did when they were on a case. It was all about getting people to talk about things in the past that they might prefer to leave alone, searching for new information or a fact that could unlock the case. It was the same when she was working as a psychotherapist: she was helping people to deal with upsetting things, things that it might seem easier to leave alone, working to relieve the pent-up feelings.
“It seems that Gary Wells watched the DVD of his birthday party several times for the last few nights he was alive. And when he was leaving the house the last time he said to his wife, ‘I think I’ve made a terrible mistake’.”
