Gallows Lane

Chapter Seven

Friday, 4 June

The following morning, as I sat in my car having my first smoke of the day, Burgess radioed through to say that Sinead Webb had phoned the station reporting a prowler in her grounds. There were no available officers in the station, so with nothing else to do, I volunteered.

The Webbs’ home was at the top of Gallows Lane, though the entrance to it was along an old coach path accessed from Coneyburrow, barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and bordered with rhododendrons and foxgloves.

The house itself was fairly modern, but designed almost as a post-colonial statement. The first-floor rooms to the front, which I guessed were bedrooms, opened out on to balconies overlooking the grounds, the main front door of the house framed by Doric columns whitewashed in sharp contrast to the garish salmon-pink of the house itself. The double doors at the front were heavy mahogany with thick brass fittings. I banged twice on the knocker, then stood back, looking up at the bedrooms for signs of life. One of the patio doors leading from the bedroom on the right had been left partially ajar and, behind the lace curtain which wafted lightly in the morning breeze, I thought I could see the outline of a figure, looking down. When the figure saw me looking, he or she stepped back quickly. Then I heard the door-lock slide back and Sinead Webb opened the front door.

Mrs Webb was younger than I had thought, possibly ten years junior to her husband. Her brown hair was cut short and slightly spiked, tapered at her neck. Despite being in her dressing gown, she wore a little rouge on her cheeks which served to accentuate the unnatural green of her eyes.

Her dressing gown was silk and she wore it over a long white nightgown. She was slim, small-breasted and sallow-skinned. Her age was most readily gauged around her neck where the skin was wrinkled, in contrast with the cosmetic work she had had carried out on her face.

‘Is it Peter?’ she asked breathlessly, before I could speak, peering over my shoulder at the squad car I had parked in her driveway.

‘No, Mrs Webb. Everything’s all right,’ I said, introducing myself. ‘I’m here about the prowler,’ I explained.

‘Oh, right,’ she said, laughing lightly. ‘Oh, come in, please.’

She led me into the kitchen where the remains of the previous evening’s meal remained on the worktop beside the sink. An almost empty bottle of white wine sat on the pine dining table with two glasses, one smeared with lipstick.

‘Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess,’ she said, gesturing nonchalantly towards the sink. ‘I got a real fright. I had to call a friend to stay the night. A girlfriend,’ she added quickly.

I nodded through the lie and said nothing.

‘So, do you want a description or something?’ she asked, not sitting down and so forcing me to remain standing also. I suspected that she regretted having asked me in and now wished to get rid of me as quickly as possible.

‘Well, maybe you can tell me where you saw … him? Her?’

‘Him — definitely him. He was standing at the edge of the garden; over under the apple trees.’ She moved to the window and pointed over to where three or four apple trees were plotted out about two hundred metres from the house.

‘What was he doing?’ I asked.

‘Just standing there,’ she said. ‘Watching the house. I was making dinner and he was just there. Staring.’

‘Did he … do anything?’ I asked, struggling to find appropriate wording while making my meaning clear. ‘You know?’ I nodded suggestively towards her.

‘Oh, like that!’ Her laugh tinkled. ‘Oh no, nothing like that. He was just watching.’

‘Did you go out to him?’

‘No, no. My friend came to the window too and when he saw him he ran,’ she said, a split second before realizing that she had exposed two lies with one sentence. Her friend had been there all along, and was most definitely a he.

Mrs Webb blushed, and fidgeted with her gown pocket, attempting to remove a packet of cigarettes. I offered her one of mine and took the opportunity to light one for myself As I held the lighter out, I realized that her eye colour was the result of contacts, for one of the lenses was not sitting quite right and an umbra of her own brown colour could be seen around the green in her left eye. She was aware that I was looking at her and shifted position slightly.

‘So he ran after he saw your friend?’ I asked.

She nodded. ‘I thought it might have been a reporter or something. You know — about Peter’s arrest — but he was too badly dressed. Jeans and a cardigan or something. Bald-headed.’

I nodded. ‘I might take a look around out there, Mrs Webb. Beyond that, we’ll keep our eyes open. If he comes around again, give us a call. How’s that?’

She smiled. ‘Thank you, Inspector,’ she said, opening the back door to allow me out to the garden.

I walked around the apple trees, grateful for the coolness of the shade they provided, and pretended to examine the ground for evidence in case I had an audience from the house. In reality, I knew who the tramp was and guessed there’d be nothing worth finding in terms of evidence. Chances were Kerr was looking for somewhere to sleep. Or he was looking for somewhere to rob for petty cash. Or he was looking for someone, just as he had said in the cafe.

While I examined the ground, I tried to decipher the registration plates of the two cars parked behind the house. One was an old Vauxhall Vectra. The other was a red Ford Puma, though I could not see the registration plate because of the way it was parked. Still, I suspected that one of the cars belonged to our mysterious friend. As I finished my smoke beneath the apple trees, I was aware that I was being watched from an upstairs window. I glanced up to see Mrs Webb staring down, gnawing at the corner of her mouth. Perhaps she had begun to wonder why I had not asked her about the items found on her land.

When I arrived back at the station Williams was making coffee and indicated that she would make one for me. I left my stuff in our office and stood, hands in my pockets, listening to the shouts coming from Costello’s office. My heart lifted somewhat vindictively as I watched Patterson and Colhoun traipse out of the office, both looking decidedly unhappy. Colhoun had turned a shade of green I had never seen on anything that wasn’t a corpse and Patterson had turned a similarly extreme shade of red. He muttered something to his partner, then pushed open the back fire exit and went outside.

Williams handed me a mug, then leaned against the counter beside me, nodding towards the slowly closing door.

‘Someone’s not happy, eh?’

‘Oh well. I’m sure he’ll survive,’ I said, turning to go into the office. Williams followed and sat down behind the desk, affecting an interest in a sheet of paper sitting in her in-tray.

‘I don’t know if it’s a superior officer thing,’ she said, ‘but are you actually going to tell me at some stage what’s going on, or do I have to guess what the problem is between you and Patterson?’ She gazed at me over her coffee mug.

‘Sorry?’

‘You and Patterson. What’s going on? I think I have some right to know — partner,’ she replied and, though her tone was joking, I could sense beneath it an unspoken resentment.

I opened my mouth to speak but, failing to formulate anything to say, took a gulp of coffee. Then, unsure where to start, I began with my meeting with Kerr, and all that had happened since, right up to Peter Webb being brought in for questioning over something he knew nothing about.

Williams blew across the surface of her coffee as I spoke, listening attentively and showing no reaction to any of the revelations. She remained quiet for a moment after I finished then asked, ‘Well, what do we do now?’

‘We? I thought I’d fuck this one up myself, you know.’

‘Not a chance. This sounds kind of juicy,’ Williams said, smiling and draining her cooled coffee.

‘Juicy?’

‘You know what I mean, boss. Besides, I know something you don’t about all of this.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I’ll tell you when I feel like it.’

‘Point taken, Caroline. I’m sorry for not telling you. I-’ I started to explain, but Williams held her hand up in placation.

‘Enough already. I preferred it when you were saying nothing. You’ll be interested to know that Peter Webb walked out of here thirty minutes ago.’

‘Why? I thought they were going to question him again today.’

‘So did they. Costello got woken at five-thirty this morning by a VIP, demanding that Webb be released immediately.’

‘Jesus, who?’

‘No one knows. High, high up,’ she said, pointing towards the ceiling.

‘God?’ I asked with mock seriousness.

‘Higher,’ she replied. ‘Regional HQ. One of the Assistant Chief Supers, apparently.’

‘You’re kidding.’ An ACS getting involved in a case like this was like using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. Unless, of course, they had somehow learnt about the suspicion surrounding the veracity of the guns find on Webb’s land. In which case, the trail could well lead back to me. ‘Shit,’ I said, the realization dawning on me, just as Costello shoved open our office door and pointed at me.

‘What a bloody mess,’ he said, grunting as he lowered himself into his seat. ‘From start to bloody finish — a bloody disaster.’ ‘What’s happened, sir?’ I asked.

‘I’ve got a call from the Assistant Chief Super requesting information on Webb’s “arrest”. Arrest! As soon as she heard he was being questioned the word was clear and unambiguous: set him loose.’

‘How has Webb got clout with the ACS?’

‘He doesn’t. She got her orders from above.’

‘Jesus.’

‘Quite. So I don’t know what Patterson put his foot in, but I’m left to wipe it off our shoe, Benedict.’

‘That’s quite a metaphor, sir,’ I said.

‘Don’t be facetious. What did his missus want?’

A prowler, she said.’

Anything?’

‘It was James Kerr, sir. I recognized the description.’

‘Why is he still here? I thought I told you to get him back over the border.’

‘I tried, sir — he’s not doing anything wrong.’

‘Did you get him yesterday?’

I nodded. ‘He said he wants to see someone and then he’s on his way. Promised me he’d hurt no one.’

A promise from an ex-con? I think you’ve gone soft, Inspector.’

‘I think he’s on the level.’

‘Then what was he doing at Webb’s house?’

‘My guess is Peter Webb is the man he wants to see.’

Costello put his head in his hands and stared at his desk. ‘Please get rid of him before my day gets any worse.’

‘Just think,’ I said, standing up. ‘In a few weeks’ time you’ll be able to forget all about this, sir.’

‘Get out, Inspector,’ he growled, without looking up.

That afternoon I took a little unofficial time off and collected Penny from my wife’s parents who were watching her and Shane. I drove her into Letterkenny in the Garda car, even sneaking on the siren along the dual carriageway with minimal persuasion from my daughter, who, I suspect, found it a little infantile.

We stopped along Judge’s Road below the County Courts and walked down to the pet shop. Twenty minutes later, we were coasting back towards Lifford, a tiny brown and cream hamster snuggled in the cup of Penny’s hands, her face alive with wonder and curiosity. If only all relationships in life were so easily maintained and all demands so easily fulfilled.

I was dropping Penny back round with her granny and unloading a cage, water bottles and bags of straw when Burgess’s voice cackled through the static of the radio. The owner of the corner shop in the Dardnells had phoned in to say someone had been asking questions about Peter Webb — someone suspicious. Burgess thought it might be linked to the prowler.

Christy Ward was originally from Derry and had been a member of the Republican movement during the seventies. He had lost a friend during Bloody Sunday and strangely, while that event generally proved to be a recruitment agent for the Provos, it served to sicken Christy to the extent that he packed up and moved into Donegal where he invested his finances in a tiny cottage which he turned into a shop as well as his home. He had never married and, although rumours circulated that he was a closet homosexual, his proclivities had never become clear and he had remained a bachelor.

Christy still worked in the shop despite being in his late sixties. He had been affected severely by arthritis and waiting for him to pick change from the cash register was so interminable that most people just gave up and told him to put it in the charity box. The more unChristian suggested that Ward’s illness got suddenly worse when a customer required substantial change. I knew this to be untrue for several times I had seen him placing the monies into the Foyle Hospice collection bucket he kept on the counter.

When I got to the shop he was sitting on a stool at the front door, a cigarette clasped in the clawed hand his disease had twisted almost beyond use. He looked up at me from his seat, shielding his eyes from the glare of sunlight with his other hand.

‘Christy, how’re you doing?’

‘Surviving, Ben, surviving. How’s the care — Debbie and the kids?’

‘They’re great, Christy, thanks. You’ve had a visitor, I believe.’

He nodded, dragging a last smoke from the smouldering butt of his cigarette, before he crushed it against the leg of his stool. Then he told me what had happened.

Around three o’clock, while I was buying a hamster in Letterkenny, a middle-aged Englishman had come into the shop, ostensibly for a bottle of water. He stood at the counter, pressing the bottle to his forehead which was beaded with sweat. Despite the heat, he wore a crumpled grey woollen suit.

‘A scorcher of a day,’ he stated, handing Christy the water bottle, smeared with his sweat.

‘’Twould be worse if it were raining,’ Christy replied, holding the bottle by the top to scan it into the till.

The Englishman stared at him through his sunglasses which he did not remove. His face was flushed and red, perhaps from the heat, though Christy said it had the appearance of a heavy drinker’s. When Christy returned his stare the man smiled, then glanced around the shop, as though taking its inventory.

‘Perhaps you can help me,’ the man said.

‘Oh aye?’

Aye,’ he said, in a manner that left Christy wondering if he was mocking him. ‘You wouldn’t know anything about those guns that were found, would you?’ As he spoke, he removed a roll of euro notes from his pocket. He placed a twenty-euro note on the counter to pay for the water, which cost just over one euro.

‘Which guns would those be now?’ Christy asked, reaching for the note. As he touched it the Englishman placed a finger on to it, pinning it to the counter.

‘The guns found the other day.’

‘You a journalist too?’ Christy asked.

‘Aye.’ The man was looking at the sweet counter now, selecting a bar of chocolate.

‘Well, you’re scooped. All the rest of them have been and gone.’

The man stopped and looked at him across the counter. ‘I’m doing some follow-up work,’ he said, lifting a bar indiscriminately and placing it on the counter.

Christy pointed the man in the direction of Paddy Hannon’s field and the twenty-euro note was duly released.

‘Thank you, sir. Keep the change,’ the man said, lifting a packet of picture postcards of Donegal from the display by the door as he left and wafting it in front of his face as if the warm, dead air it generated might bring some relief from the heat.

Christy shuffled back from the rack where he had shown me the type of card the man had taken.

‘Journalist my arse. I’ve seen enough journalists and enough Englishmen to know a Brit when I see one. He wasn’t army though — but I’ll bet this shop he’s Special Branch.’

‘Are you sure? He couldn’t have been a photographer or a feature writer maybe?

‘No — his hands weren’t writer’s hands. They were dirty with oil, and his nails bitten tight. He had a scar down his neck. I’m telling you, Inspector: Special Branch. Sure he didn’t even have a fuckin’ journalist’s notebook.’ He shook his head incredulously at the paucity of the man’s disguise.

That evening the heat intensified soon after seven. Just eating dinner was an effort which caused my skin to prickle and my shirt to cling to my back with sweat. The brilliant blue of earlier had gone and the sky was a watercolour, high clouds turning the dome white. Just after sunset, heavy thunderheads shifted in from the West, carried over the Donegal hills from the Atlantic. I had showered to cool down and was sitting out back with a coffee and a cigarette when the first heavy thuds of rain splattered on the dusty grass. The temperature dropped almost instantaneously with a torrential downpour that struck the skin like needles and hammered off the roof of our garden shed.

I went into the kitchen and stood at the door as I finished my smoke while Debbie tutted behind me and complained about the smell. Eventually, the pleasure of the smoke robbed, I flicked the butt out into a flash puddle that had formed at the back door, where it extinguished with a fizz.

‘How’s Costello been since?’ Debs asked, stretching Clingfilm over a bowl of fruit salad she had prepared for the children’s lunch the next day.

I told her about my conversation with him and the implicit threat that by questioning the integrity of the find, I could cause problems for myself when the superintendent interviews came up. ‘What should I do?’ I asked. ‘If I report Patterson, it’ll look like I’m grassing him in, just to get myself a foot-up. If I don’t, he’s a cert for promotion.’

‘Do what you always do, Ben. Drift!’

‘I don’t drift,’ I argued, with little conviction, sitting at the table watching her work.

‘Your life is about drifting. That’s not a criticism. Things always work out for the best — just don’t get in the way of them.’ She patted my head, then turned back to finish her work. ‘Now — on more important issues. How about a foot rub?’

Before I went to bed I finished my letter of application for a Superintendent position and placed it in an envelope which Debbie said she would post the following morning. Then I went upstairs to check on the children. Shane had recently developed a habit of sleeping on his side, one leg stretched through the bars of the cot and twisted back around a bar. I quietly said a prayer of thanks for him and Penny as veins of lightning threaded the sky and the windows shuddered with the first thunderclap. I thought of James Kerr sleeping rough and said a prayer for him too. As it transpired, he was not the one who was in need of my prayers that night.