Read Online The Rising by Brian McGilloway - Free Book Online Page B

been evident in my expression for Patterson, his mug paused inches from his mouth, looked at me with bewilderment.
    ‘I’ve asked for toxicology reports to be done with the postmortem,’ I said.
    He put down the mug on his desk. ‘Why?’
    ‘A fifteen-year-old falling off a cliff seems a little out of the ordinary. He’d been camping with friends. Maybe someone slipped him something.’
    Patterson guffawed. ‘Depends what you mean by slipped him something.’
    ‘He was Caroline’s son, Harry. Jesus, have a heart.’
    ‘It’s a waste of time and money, Devlin,’ he said, suddenly serious. ‘What’s it going to achieve? So what if you find he took something, or someone slipped him something? What do you do then? He went off a fucking cliff. No one pushed him – he fell himself.’
    ‘I’d like to do something; for Caroline’s sake.’
    ‘Did you talk to her? Did they have a row? Was it something she said?’
    ‘I’m not sure facetiousness is appropriate, Harry,’ I said, standing up to leave.
    ‘Try finding out why the fuck she let a fifteen-year-old go camping on the beach at the start of February,’ he suggested, glancing up at me, then turning his attention to the sheets of paper he had started shuffling on his desk. ‘Now what’s the story with the actual murder you’re meant to be investigating.’
    ‘Not much to report. He was stabbed in the chest and set alight. Forensics found traces of drugs in the barn, but little more than that. There does seem to be some confusion from witness accounts. The neighbour saw a blue car parked outside the house at ten. The milkman saw a white Transit van with Southern plates there at two in the morning. The pathologist can’t state time of death with any certainty, but it doesn’t really matter. Kielty’s phone wasn’t answered after 10.15 on the evening of his death. I suspect he died around that time.’
    ‘Why did they hang around until two in the morning then?’
    ‘Maybe they didn’t. Maybe it was a different person – a buyer maybe?’
    ‘Or maybe they killed him, headed off for a van and came back to lift his stash. There were only traces of drugs found in his barn. If he was selling, where’s his supplies?’
    ‘Robbery gone bad?’
    Patterson shrugged. ‘Maybe. He got what was coming to him, anyway. People choose to live that lifestyle, they take the risks.’
    ‘He didn’t deserve to die, Harry,’ I said. ‘No one does.’
    ‘Spare me the bleeding heart liberal, Devlin. The man was a scumbag.’
    ‘He may well have been, Harry, but his daughter will grow up without her father. Someone needs to answer for that.’
    ‘She’ll be better off without him,’ Harry muttered. ‘Besides, it was probably one of his own who did it, anyway. What about this connection with Lorcan Hutton? Any sign of him yet?’
    ‘None so far,’ I admitted. ‘I think that Rising thing the other night might have driven him underground.’
    ‘Which reminds me,’ Patterson added, flicking through the various sheets of paper on his desk before selecting one and handing it to me. ‘The local radio station want to run an interview with one of the local community associations who’ve thrown their support behind The Rising and a member of An Garda, about the drugs problem in Lifford.’
    ‘There is no drugs problem in Lifford,’ I said.
    ‘That’s what I like to hear. I knew you were just the man for the job,’ Patterson said, smiling disingenuously. ‘I’ve also told Rory Nicell that you’d be calling. He’s one of the Drugs Unit for the region. He’ll fill you in before the interview; might be able to pull you out with Kielty too. His details are on the back of that sheet, along with the stuff about the interview.’
    ‘Who’s the other speaker?’ I asked, scanning the sheet which gave details only of time and location: the local radio station at 1 p.m. the following afternoon.
    ‘How the hell should I know?’ he said. ‘Tell Williams I