‘I’ll be contacting their next of kin later this morning, so that they can go down to the mortuary to make a formal identification.’
Katie said, ‘The driver’s window was open, but even he didn’t manage to get out.’
‘That’s right,’ said Bill. ‘And all the doors and the rest of the windows were locked, even though the switch was only centimetres away from the driver’s hand and he could have opened them easy. The water pressure was such that they may not have been able to open the doors, but at least they could have had a chance of escaping if they had been able to open the windows. We checked the electrics on the vehicle and they were still functioning.’
‘Who was the driver?’
‘Darragh O’Connor,’ said Detective Dooley. ‘But apart from his impressive record of non-headline offences, the interesting thing about Darragh O’Connor is that he doesn’t hold a current driving licence, and never has.’
Katie studied the photographs of Darragh O’Connor, which had been taken from several different angles.
‘He’s leaning to the right, with his shoulder against the door. But his left leg isn’t even in the driver’s side footwell. And why isn’t one of the other lads sitting next to him in the front passenger seat? The four of them are all squashed up together in the back. That doesn’t make sense. Not unless—’
Bill Phinner looked up at her expectantly. ‘Are you thinking what I’ve been thinking?’ he asked her.
‘You mean, that Darragh O’Connor wasn’t driving?’ said Katie. ‘Somebody else was driving and Darragh was originally sitting in the front passenger seat? Somebody who dragged him into the driver’s seat once the vehicle had gone into the water and he had already drowned?’
‘It’s possible,’ said Bill. ‘But if Darragh had drowned, and all the rest of the lads had drowned, too, why didn’t this theoretical driver drown along with them?’
Detective Dooley shrugged. ‘He could have escaped through the open window, like, swum to the surface and then dived back down again to pull Darragh behind the wheel. Or maybe we’re misjudging him. Maybe he went down again to try and save Darragh’s life but didn’t have the strength to pull him right out.’
‘No, that doesn’t make any sense,’ said Katie. ‘If he’d been intent on saving anybody’s life, he wouldn’t have locked all the windows, would he? Not only that, he would have raised the alarm as soon as he surfaced again. But we’ve checked the logs and there were no emergency calls relating to this incident at all.’
She paused again, looking through the pictures for anything that might indicate what had happened as the five boys drowned.
‘Were they all carrying their mobile phones?’
‘They were, yes, but of course the water had got into them. We’re drying them out now and we should have them working again in a while.’
‘Do we know where the vehicle came from?’ she asked. ‘I presume you checked the VIN number.’
‘We did, of course. It was last registered to a used car dealership, O’Hagan’s Autos in Limerick. Their records say that it was bought in January by a Patrick McNeill, who paid them six hundred euros cash. However, it was never registered under Patrick McNeill’s name, and never underwent an NCT, and never insured.’
‘Did you find anything inside the vehicle that might identify this Patrick McNeill? In the glovebox, or the door pockets?’
‘In the glovebox we found a Phillips screwdriver, half a roll of very old extra-strong mints, a map of Limerick, three used nine-volt batteries and a lotto ticket from 2013. There was nothing in the door pockets. On the floor under the seats we found a small folding umbrella and a child’s runner, size two, and a small white plastic lid of some kind.’
‘A small white plastic lid of what kind?’
‘I have no idea, to be honest with you. Look – here’s a picture of all the items that we recovered.
Katie said, ‘The driver’s window was open, but even he didn’t manage to get out.’
‘That’s right,’ said Bill. ‘And all the doors and the rest of the windows were locked, even though the switch was only centimetres away from the driver’s hand and he could have opened them easy. The water pressure was such that they may not have been able to open the doors, but at least they could have had a chance of escaping if they had been able to open the windows. We checked the electrics on the vehicle and they were still functioning.’
‘Who was the driver?’
‘Darragh O’Connor,’ said Detective Dooley. ‘But apart from his impressive record of non-headline offences, the interesting thing about Darragh O’Connor is that he doesn’t hold a current driving licence, and never has.’
Katie studied the photographs of Darragh O’Connor, which had been taken from several different angles.
‘He’s leaning to the right, with his shoulder against the door. But his left leg isn’t even in the driver’s side footwell. And why isn’t one of the other lads sitting next to him in the front passenger seat? The four of them are all squashed up together in the back. That doesn’t make sense. Not unless—’
Bill Phinner looked up at her expectantly. ‘Are you thinking what I’ve been thinking?’ he asked her.
‘You mean, that Darragh O’Connor wasn’t driving?’ said Katie. ‘Somebody else was driving and Darragh was originally sitting in the front passenger seat? Somebody who dragged him into the driver’s seat once the vehicle had gone into the water and he had already drowned?’
‘It’s possible,’ said Bill. ‘But if Darragh had drowned, and all the rest of the lads had drowned, too, why didn’t this theoretical driver drown along with them?’
Detective Dooley shrugged. ‘He could have escaped through the open window, like, swum to the surface and then dived back down again to pull Darragh behind the wheel. Or maybe we’re misjudging him. Maybe he went down again to try and save Darragh’s life but didn’t have the strength to pull him right out.’
‘No, that doesn’t make any sense,’ said Katie. ‘If he’d been intent on saving anybody’s life, he wouldn’t have locked all the windows, would he? Not only that, he would have raised the alarm as soon as he surfaced again. But we’ve checked the logs and there were no emergency calls relating to this incident at all.’
She paused again, looking through the pictures for anything that might indicate what had happened as the five boys drowned.
‘Were they all carrying their mobile phones?’
‘They were, yes, but of course the water had got into them. We’re drying them out now and we should have them working again in a while.’
‘Do we know where the vehicle came from?’ she asked. ‘I presume you checked the VIN number.’
‘We did, of course. It was last registered to a used car dealership, O’Hagan’s Autos in Limerick. Their records say that it was bought in January by a Patrick McNeill, who paid them six hundred euros cash. However, it was never registered under Patrick McNeill’s name, and never underwent an NCT, and never insured.’
‘Did you find anything inside the vehicle that might identify this Patrick McNeill? In the glovebox, or the door pockets?’
‘In the glovebox we found a Phillips screwdriver, half a roll of very old extra-strong mints, a map of Limerick, three used nine-volt batteries and a lotto ticket from 2013. There was nothing in the door pockets. On the floor under the seats we found a small folding umbrella and a child’s runner, size two, and a small white plastic lid of some kind.’
‘A small white plastic lid of what kind?’
‘I have no idea, to be honest with you. Look – here’s a picture of all the items that we recovered.
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