Authors: Graham Masterton
‘God – if only Mrs Cassidy had consented to a DNA test,’ she said to Sergeant Begley, who was standing beside her to see Keeno being processed.
Sergeant Begley shook his head. ‘Myself, I reckon there’s a whole lot more to this than meets the eye. It was hardly worth a full-scale raid on those kennels for the sake of two thousand euros.’
‘We still don’t know what’s happened to the rest of the dogs,’ said Katie. ‘Dooley tells me that some of them may have been taken for dogfighting up at Ballyknock.’
‘Well, sure, there’s plenty of money in dogfighting all right. But not all of the dogs would have been suitable for that, would they? It’s no good setting a chihuahua up against a mastiff, is it?’
Katie had to admit to herself that he was right. Even if the two dogs that they had found at Riverstick and the dogs that were supposed to be fighting at Ballyknock had all been stolen from the Sceolan Kennels, what had happened to the rest of them?
Keeno slowly turned his head and stared in their direction. He would have been able to see nothing more than his own reflection, but if he had any experience of being arrested before, he would have guessed that he was being observed from behind the mirror. He gave a slow wink, and stuck out the tip of his tongue.
‘Why do I have the feeling that we’ll be lucky to get any information at all out of that scummer?’ said Sergeant Begley.
‘For the same reason that I do,’ said Katie. ‘It would probably be more than his life’s worth to tell us who his gang are.’ She paused for a moment, and then she said, ‘Any progress with that missing girl?’
‘Siobhán O’Donohue? We’re still tracking down all of the crowd from the Eclipse Club on Hallowe’en. There was over a hundred and fifty of them, like, so it’s taking a bit of time. A few of them saw Siobhán having a bit of a scrap with her boyfriend, and then going to the bar and knocking back three or four of them Jägerbombs. Then she left – bit unsteady on her feet by all accounts.’
‘We’ve interviewed her boyfriend?’
‘Of course. A young shamfeen from The Glen called Donal O’Grady. He said that his relationship with Siobhán had been turning sour for a few weeks before Hallowe’en and that night he shifted some other girl just to show her. That was what kicked off the argument.’
‘Do you think her boyfriend might have had anything to do with her disappearance?’
‘No, he didn’t for sure, although he was one of the last people to see her. He said he came out of the club with this new girl of his – Phil, the girl’s name is, Philomena. He saw Siobhán standing in the street like she was waiting to have another crack at him. He shifted Phil again right in front of her just to underline the fact that they were finished.’
‘And after that?’
‘He took Phil home and then went home himself. He didn’t see where Siobhán went – whether she walked or got a taxi or what – and so far nobody else saw her, either, although we have a few more witnesses yet to track down.’
‘She lives in Knocka, doesn’t she?’ asked Katie.
‘That’s right.’
‘Most likely then she would have hailed a taxi or called for one, especially if she was langered.’
‘Of course. But we’ve contacted all of the cab companies and none of them have a record of a fare at that specific time of the morning from Oliver Plunkett Street to Killiney Heights.’
‘Maybe a taxi driver picked her up but didn’t take her home. We’ve had
that
happen before, as you know yourself. Did she use any particular taxi app? A lot of girls do these days.’
‘That’s a thought. I’ll have Ó Doibhilin ask her boyfriend – her
ex
-boyfriend, anyway. And if
he
doesn’t know, I’ll tell him to ask her family.’
At that moment Katie’s iPhone pinged. Detective Scanlan had texted her to say that Eoin Cassidy was waiting by the front desk.
‘Eoin Cassidy’s here,’ she told Sergeant Begley. ‘Now we’ll find out for sure where these dogs came from. That’s unless he makes out they’re his when they’re not.’
Sergeant Begley grunted with amusement. ‘Do you know what my wife always says? They should stop calling us
An Garda Siochána
and call us
Daoine Nach Bhfuil A Chreideann Aon Duine –
the people who don’t believe anybody
.’
They went downstairs and met Eoin Cassidy in the reception area by the front desk. He was accompanied by a beefy crimson-faced uniformed garda from Bandon. By contrast, Eoin looked tired and wan and he hadn’t shaved this morning. Even his brown tweed jacket looked tired, and his trousers drooped.
‘You’ve found Lili then?’ he said, as Katie came up to him. ‘And one of the German Shepherds – it’ll either be Gus or Bandit. I’m hoping it’s Gus. I mean, I won’t be upset if it’s Bandit, of course not. But Gus is only three and Bandit’s seven.’
‘We don’t know if it’s either of them yet, Eoin,’ said Katie. ‘A handler from the Dog Support Unit has them out in the car park, if you’d like to come and take a look.’
Eoin followed Katie and Sergeant Begley out of the back door. It was cold out there, but there was no wind, and the sun was shining behind a thin haze of cirrus, and at least it wasn’t raining. A white dog support van was parked by the entrance, and a handler was waiting with the German Shepherd and the Vizsla from Riverstick.
As soon as he saw them, Eoin hurried over and knelt on the ground between them and put an arm around each of them. When he looked up Katie, his eyes were shining and it was clear that he was close to tears.
‘Oh, it’s them all right,’ he said. ‘It’s Lili and Gus. No question about it. See, Gus has this saddleback pattern, and this black mask over his face. I’ve brought photos with me if you want to make comparisons. And Lili, she has this scar on her left hind leg. Oh, this is fantastic! I don’t know how to thank you. Their owners are going to be over the moon.’
Katie said, ‘I’m pleased for you, Eoin. We’ll take a look at your photos, if we may, and we’ll be keeping the two dogs here for two or three days for forensic tests. We’ll want to check what they’ve been eating, and if they’ve been given any drugs, or picked up any infections. We’ll also be looking for dust or any other residue caught in their coats. That could give us a clue to where they’ve been.’
‘Of course,’ said Eoin. ‘I can wait. I’m just so happy out. Now you’ve found these two it gives me much more hope that we can find the rest of them.’
‘Come up to my office,’ said Katie. ‘There’s more I have to talk to you about.’
She turned to his beefy escort and said, ‘We’ll be a while. Why don’t you go to the canteen and treat yourself to a cup of tea? They have home-made barmbrack, too, if you’re hungry.’
On their way upstairs, Katie stopped by the squad room and called for Detectives Dooley and Scanlan to come with them. When they reached her office, they all sat down on the oatmeal-coloured couches underneath the window. Eoin appeared to be nervous now, and kept rolling and unrolling his thin brown tie around his fingers.
‘You need to know that we have the man known as Keeno in custody,’ said Katie. ‘You know – Keeno? The man who entered your home on the night when all of your dogs were stolen and raped Cleona.’
Eoin gave a little quiver, as if a goose had walked over his grave, but said nothing, and kept on rolling his tie.
‘He’s here now, Eoin, downstairs,’ Katie told him. ‘We need you to come and take a look at him, to see if you recognise him.’
‘I’ve told you over and over what happened that night,’ said Eoin. ‘I don’t have to repeat it, do I?’
‘Eoin – it’s no use trying to pretend that those two men didn’t come into your house and that the one called Keeno didn’t sexually assault Cleona. If you won’t admit to what really happened, I may have to consider charging you with obstructing our enquiry. I’ve already arranged to meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss a charge of manslaughter against you. There’s enough evidence to suggest that you weren’t acting in self-defence at all and that you shot that intruder in cold blood, whoever he was. The court may take it into account that he invaded your home and was party to stealing your property, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll let you off completely.’
‘Before I say anything else to you, I want to talk to my solicitor,’ said Eoin.
‘Eoin – listen to me, I’m bending so far over backwards to help you here that my head’s almost touching the floor. If you can identify Keeno, we can put a lot of pressure on him to tell us who stole your dogs, and once we know who stole them, we should be able to recover them for you –
all
of them, with any luck.’
‘I appreciate your finding Gus and Lili for me, detective superintendent. I’m pure grateful, I can tell you that. But I want to talk to my solicitor.’
‘Time’s running out, Eoin, even if it hasn’t run out already. If we hadn’t located them, Gus and Lili would have been sold off by now and you
never
would have got them back. The rest of the dogs are probably being sold off even as we speak. We can find them for you if you help us to track down the gang who took them, but if you won’t, then there’s very little we can do. I don’t have the manpower or the financial resources to go looking for twenty-four missing dogs. I’m sorry, but there it is.’
‘Maybe there’s another way,’ said Eoin.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Like, maybe you could look at this the other way around.’
‘“The other way around”. What do you mean?’
‘Maybe you could use a pet detective. I mean, if a pet detective could trace where the rest of the dogs have been taken, then you’d be able to discover who stole them.’
‘There’s only one pet detective in the country that I know of,’ said Detective Dooley. ‘His name’s Robert Kenny and he’s based in Dublin. In fact I think he’s the only pet detective in Europe. He calls his agency “Happy Tails”.’
‘Yes... I’ve heard about him,’ said Katie. ‘He’s helped the Dublin Garda a couple of times to track down stolen dogs. He’s very successful, too, so far as I understand it.’
‘Actually, there’s another pet detective now, in Limerick,’ said Eoin. ‘He used to be a member of the Limerick and District Canine Club. I met him at their last annual championship dog show. Conor Ó Máille.’
‘What qualifications does he have, or is he just an amateur?’
‘Oh, no. He took a proper course in pet detection in Fresno, in California, and he’s a certified MART.’
‘MART? What’s a MART when it’s at home?’
‘Missing Animals Response Technician. Sixth Scents, that’s the name of his business – “Scents” like in smells. He’s been doing all right, too, so he tells me.’
‘“Missing Animals Response Technician”,’ said Detective Dooley, shaking his head. ‘Holy Saint Joseph.’
But Detective Scanlan said, ‘I don’t know, Robert, maybe we shouldn’t mock. I think it might be quite a good idea, bringing in somebody who’s an expert in finding lost animals. And like Eoin says, it’s looking at this whole enquiry the other way around. The gang who stole those dogs are going to be keeping sketch for
us
, aren’t they? Not some lone dog detective. This could totally take them by surprise.’
Katie turned back to Eoin. ‘Eoin, I’m asking you one last time if you’ll agree to come downstairs now and see if you can identify the suspect we have in custody. If you do, you can save us a heap of time and unnecessary effort, and taxpayers’ money, too.’
Eoin said, ‘No. I’m sorry. Not until I’ve had the chance to talk to my solicitor. It’s Kevin Cushley, in Bandon.’
Katie took a deep breath. She was tempted to say something cutting to him, but she held her tongue. ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘I’ll ask my secretary to phone him for you.’ She went to speak to Moirin, and then she beckoned Eoin to come into Moirin’s office, so that he could talk to his solicitor in private.
While he was gone, Katie said to Detectives Dooley and Scanlan, ‘Well? What’s your opinion?’
‘I still think it’s worth calling in this pet detective,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘Supposing he can actually find these dogs, that would be fantastic. If he can’t – well, whatever he charges, it can’t be much, and at least nobody will be able to say that we were too stick-in-the-mud to try something different.’
Katie looked at her watch. She was due to meet Maureen Callahan in less than forty minutes. She could faintly hear Eoin in Moirin’s office saying, ‘
No
,’ and ‘
No
,’ and ‘
No,
well that’s what I told them.
’
After a conversation lasting over ten minutes, he came back in.
‘So, what did Mr Cushley have to say?’ asked Katie. ‘Are you coming downstairs to identify Keeno or not?’
‘No. I can’t identify him because I never saw him.’
‘You’re still insisting that he didn’t come into the house and assault you and your wife?’
‘Yes.’
‘Even though Cleona says that he did?’
‘Yes.’
‘So why do you think she said that?’
‘I have no idea. You’ll have to ask her.’
‘I have, and she said that’s exactly what happened.’
Eoin pulled a face, as if to say ‘Maybe she did, but there’s nothing that I can do about it.’
Katie said, ‘All right, Eoin. You can go now. But don’t forget that you’re still on station bail. Robert – could you find the officer who escorted Mr Cassidy, please, and see them out?’
When Detective Dooley had taken Eoin away, Detective Scanlan said, ‘Now what?’
‘I have to go out for an hour or so,’ said Katie, looking at her watch again. ‘When I come back we can have a chat with our friend Keeno, although Sergeant Begley doesn’t think we’ll get anything out of him but bad language and neither do I.’
She paused for a second, thinking, and then she said, ‘While I’m gone, Pádraigin, why don’t you look up this pet detective? What was his name? Maybe he
could
help us. You never know, like, do you?’
As she drove to Blackrock, Katie was held up by pothole-repairing works at the junction with Beaumont Drive, and that made her five minutes late for her meeting with Maureen Callahan. She hoped that Maureen hadn’t thought that she wasn’t going to turn up, and already left, but when she turned into the car park she saw that there were only three cars there, and through the tinted windows of a red Audi parked at the very far end she could see the distinctive gleam of Maureen’s brassy blonde bob.