The Doll's House

‘Of course not.’ O’Connor leaned back on the hard wooden chair, stretching out and folding his legs to the side of the table. ‘I’d be keen to hear what you have to say about them.’


‘It’s been years since I spoke to either of them.’

‘So you all go back a long way?’

‘Long enough.’

‘To when exactly?’

‘My teens, I guess.’

‘That’s a long time ago.’ O’Connor smiled again, but McDaid didn’t look impressed. ‘How did you get to know them, Steve?’

‘They hung out at the Hamiltons’. I used to be friendly with Dominic Hamilton.’

O’Connor was giving nothing away, although there were plenty of questions running around in his head. He was finding it harder to keep his anger under wraps too. McDaid had been pulled in for the Susie Graham rape, and somehow the thing that had fucked with his head over the last few months seemed to be represented by the lowlife in front of him. ‘Have you seen him recently? Dominic Hamilton, that is.’

‘Look, I don’t know anything about any of this.’

‘Nobody is saying you do, but I’d like you to answer my question. When was the last time you saw Dominic Hamilton?’

‘Recently.’

‘How recently?’

‘The last few days.’ McDaid also leaned back in his chair, as if wanting to put further distance between him and O’Connor.

O’Connor sat forward. ‘Listen, you fucking lump of shit, we can do this the hard way or the easy way.’ Standing up, O’Connor grabbed him by the shirt collar. Pulling McDaid up, he pushed him back against the wall, saying, ‘You don’t want to be here all fucking day, and neither do I. So why don’t you save us all a whole lot of time and tell us what you fucking do know?’

Hennessy took a couple of steps forward from the door. ‘Take it easy, O’Connor.’

O’Connor let go, but not before he gave McDaid a look that didn’t need any words.

It didn’t take him long to compose himself. ‘Okay, Detective, I don’t mind talking.’

‘And I’m listening. Now don’t fuck me about.’

‘I used to hang around with Dominic Hamilton. It wasn’t a match made in Heaven, me and him. Let’s just say we came from different backgrounds. That’s how I got to know Keith Jenkins and Jimmy Gahan.’

‘Did you know them well?’

‘Not particularly. They were just men in suits who visited the Hamilton house.’

‘Keep going, Steve, you’re doing great.’ Anger was still seeping into O’Connor’s words.

‘I saw the sister too, about a week ago. She didn’t see me, but I recognised her straight away. She’s a bit of a looker even now.’

‘Clodagh McKay?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You have a soft spot for her, do you, Steve?’

‘She was only a kid when I met her. We got reacquainted a few years later. I doubt she remembers it, though. Out of her head, she was. Her daughter’s the same. Must be a family weakness.’ He smiled.

‘Let’s get back to you and Dominic Hamilton. How come you two had this recent reunion?’

‘I got a bit of a job.’

‘What kind of a job?’

‘Someone wanted me to keep an eye on him.’

‘Who?’

‘I’d rather not say.’

‘Don’t fuck with me, Steve.’

‘Just a guy. I think he might have been put out by Jenkins and Gahan taking a swim.’

‘I’m going to ask you again, and this time I want an answer. Who wanted you to keep an eye on Dominic Hamilton?’

‘He said he had some trust issues with him. I wasn’t keen on doing it, but sometimes a guy doesn’t have a lot of choice.’

‘A bit like now, Steve. A name, please.’

‘Alister Becon, if you must know, but that’s all I can tell you. Mr Becon isn’t one for sharing a lot of information. He wants you to do something, you do it.’

O’Connor knew he was getting only part of the story. He needed to keep pushing. He stood up again. McDaid braced himself for another attack, but O’Connor kept his anger in check. ‘And when you were keeping an eye on Dominic Hamilton, what did you discover?’

‘Not a lot.’

‘No?’ O’Connor was sceptical.

‘He liked going for long drives.’

‘Long drives?’

‘Yeah, out to Malahide, down by the estuary. He would sit in the car for hours on end. That’s where his father croaked it, wasn’t it?’

O’Connor wasn’t about to allow him to take over the questioning. ‘Did he fancy driving anywhere else, Steve?’

‘Sometimes he’d park down by Sandymount Strand, a regular water lover he was.’

‘Sandymount?’

‘Yeah. The Hamiltons had a house on the strand, a fine big one. Not everyone grows up with a view of the sea, do they?’ A note of bitterness had crept into McDaid’s voice.

‘No, they don’t, Steve. Would you care to share an address?’

‘Sure. It’s no skin off my nose.’

‘Lovely.’ O’Connor smiled at him, then heard a double tap on the door.

Lynch opened it. ‘A word, sir.’

‘Hennessy, will you wrap up the interview?’ O’Connor got up from the table.