kennel owner’s wife.’
‘What about your legless fellow?’
‘He has a nurse who’s going to be taking care of him whenever I’m away.’
Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin pressed his hand over his mouth and looked at her narrowly. Then he said, ‘Katie – you’re sure you haven’t taken too much on yourself? You’re already up the walls here at the station, especially with all of these new budget cuts. Fair play, your fellow has a nurse. But I remember my sister looking after my old Da when he went doolally. She had a carer to help her out but Mother of God, it almost killed her.’
‘John’s not demented, sir. He’s just disabled. It’ll get much easier once they fit him with his prosthetic legs and he can start to walk again.’
‘And how long will that take?’
‘I don’t know. Six months, maybe a year.’
Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin stood up and came around his desk. He stood very close to her, saying nothing for a few seconds.
‘I’d better make tracks,’ said Katie. ‘I’ve arranged to meet Inspector O’Brien at the kennels, and it’s getting dark already.’
‘I, ah – well, take care of yourself, won’t you?’ said Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin. ‘If you start to feel that the pressure’s too much for you, come and talk to me. It’s what I’m here for. You’ve been pushing yourself to the limit lately, I’ve seen that, especially with all these drugs flooding into the city. I don’t want you falling apart. Remember what happened to Liam Fennessy.’
Katie said nothing. Inspector Fennessy’s personal life had fallen apart, and then he had started taking cocaine, and accepting bribes, and in the end he had shot himself.
‘No, sir, nothing like that is going to happen to me. To be honest with you, I don’t have the time to fall apart.’
6
Once they had passed Cork airport, the rain began to ease off and the pillowy grey clouds opened up, so that the pale lemon-coloured light of day could shine through. The hedgerows glittered and the road surface up ahead of them was dazzling.
‘How’s it going with the drugs programme?’ asked Katie. ‘Did you manage to have that meeting with the HSE at last?’
‘This morning,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘Moira Kennedy from HSE and two women from Cuan Mhuire and a fellow from Matt Talbot Services and Jim Geoghegan from Merchants Quay, too. I haven’t had the time to write it up for you yet.’
‘Not a bother. I wouldn’t have had the time to read it, even if you had. What was the general gist of what they had to tell you? They must all be feeling the effects of this drug tsunami too.’
Detective Scanlan said, ‘You’re not joking. Cork’s awash with heroin, that was how Jim Geoghegan described it. By his estimate, there’s at least five hundred hard-core heroin addicts in the city centre alone, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s half of that again on top of it. The trouble is, he can only count the number of addicts who come to Merchants Quay to use their free needle exchange.’
‘It’s getting mental,’ said Katie. ‘Think of how many peddlers we’ve lifted in the past two months – not only how many numerically but how much stuff we’ve found on each one of them. And look at those petty crime statistics we’ve just had in. They’re up seven-and-a-half per cent since the last quarter, and almost all of them are drug-related in one way or another.’
Katie had been aware since the end of the summer that more hard drugs were being peddled in the city than ever before. Not only more drugs, but much purer drugs too, so that new users were becoming dependent much more rapidly. Her narcotics squad had reported that heroin was even being sold in broad daylight, in mid-afternoon, in some of the shopping malls. One dealer had been caught right outside Champions Sports in the Savoy Centre, offering free sample packets of heroin to young lads going in to buy runners.
‘Moira Kennedy from the
‘What about your legless fellow?’
‘He has a nurse who’s going to be taking care of him whenever I’m away.’
Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin pressed his hand over his mouth and looked at her narrowly. Then he said, ‘Katie – you’re sure you haven’t taken too much on yourself? You’re already up the walls here at the station, especially with all of these new budget cuts. Fair play, your fellow has a nurse. But I remember my sister looking after my old Da when he went doolally. She had a carer to help her out but Mother of God, it almost killed her.’
‘John’s not demented, sir. He’s just disabled. It’ll get much easier once they fit him with his prosthetic legs and he can start to walk again.’
‘And how long will that take?’
‘I don’t know. Six months, maybe a year.’
Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin stood up and came around his desk. He stood very close to her, saying nothing for a few seconds.
‘I’d better make tracks,’ said Katie. ‘I’ve arranged to meet Inspector O’Brien at the kennels, and it’s getting dark already.’
‘I, ah – well, take care of yourself, won’t you?’ said Chief Superintendent MacCostagáin. ‘If you start to feel that the pressure’s too much for you, come and talk to me. It’s what I’m here for. You’ve been pushing yourself to the limit lately, I’ve seen that, especially with all these drugs flooding into the city. I don’t want you falling apart. Remember what happened to Liam Fennessy.’
Katie said nothing. Inspector Fennessy’s personal life had fallen apart, and then he had started taking cocaine, and accepting bribes, and in the end he had shot himself.
‘No, sir, nothing like that is going to happen to me. To be honest with you, I don’t have the time to fall apart.’
6
Once they had passed Cork airport, the rain began to ease off and the pillowy grey clouds opened up, so that the pale lemon-coloured light of day could shine through. The hedgerows glittered and the road surface up ahead of them was dazzling.
‘How’s it going with the drugs programme?’ asked Katie. ‘Did you manage to have that meeting with the HSE at last?’
‘This morning,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘Moira Kennedy from HSE and two women from Cuan Mhuire and a fellow from Matt Talbot Services and Jim Geoghegan from Merchants Quay, too. I haven’t had the time to write it up for you yet.’
‘Not a bother. I wouldn’t have had the time to read it, even if you had. What was the general gist of what they had to tell you? They must all be feeling the effects of this drug tsunami too.’
Detective Scanlan said, ‘You’re not joking. Cork’s awash with heroin, that was how Jim Geoghegan described it. By his estimate, there’s at least five hundred hard-core heroin addicts in the city centre alone, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s half of that again on top of it. The trouble is, he can only count the number of addicts who come to Merchants Quay to use their free needle exchange.’
‘It’s getting mental,’ said Katie. ‘Think of how many peddlers we’ve lifted in the past two months – not only how many numerically but how much stuff we’ve found on each one of them. And look at those petty crime statistics we’ve just had in. They’re up seven-and-a-half per cent since the last quarter, and almost all of them are drug-related in one way or another.’
Katie had been aware since the end of the summer that more hard drugs were being peddled in the city than ever before. Not only more drugs, but much purer drugs too, so that new users were becoming dependent much more rapidly. Her narcotics squad had reported that heroin was even being sold in broad daylight, in mid-afternoon, in some of the shopping malls. One dealer had been caught right outside Champions Sports in the Savoy Centre, offering free sample packets of heroin to young lads going in to buy runners.
‘Moira Kennedy from the
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