Revenge

of a crime based on greed, rather than a carefully planned terrorist action. Melanie Adams was no banker and would make no sense as their first target on the mainland. That probably meant it wasn’t the Real IRA or any similar group and as it was almost inconceivable the IRA themselves were transporting their crime wave to the streets of London, it was probable Maguire and Murphy, had indeed become greedy renegades and were acting alone. Anyway, that would be the gist of his initial report to the impatient Home Secretary on Monday.
What really interested Miller was the opportunity to interrogate Eamon Murphy. His father was a life-long IRA enforcer and a nasty piece of work, who had crossed Miller’s path more than once. It had never been possible to pin anything concrete of a serious nature on him and the couple of times he had been arrested, the only witnesses had suddenly developed a terrible loss of memory. He had been put away for bits and pieces but Miller knew he had done far worse and escaped justice by intimidating the witnesses. Even if a particular individual was strong minded enough to want to testify no matter what, they usually had wives, children, family that would be threatened and the witness would know they weren’t idle threats. A visit from Murphy’s associates would normally be sufficient. Murphy was a man to be feared. The successful prosecutions were where there was a crime witnessed by members of the police or CCTV evidence.
Miller knew the son had followed in his father’s footsteps but by all accounts he was only a pale imitation of his father. For some years now, Miller had been spending most of his time behind a desk in London, so there was none of the personal animosity he felt for the father. However, young Murphy could still be a mine of information and whether there was a ceasefire or not Miller was intending to go digging in a big way.
There were many puzzles from the past that he might be able to help solve. In particular, Miller remembered all too well Brian Potter, a colleague who had been captured and terribly tortured. It was almost certainly an act of revenge for Potter killing a prominent Republican in a gun battle. Potter hadn’t died quickly and the memory of being first to find his body had stayed with Miller ever since and still sometimes Brian appeared in his dreams, blaming him for not finding him sooner. Miller felt guilty, though in rational analysis he knew he had done everything possible.
What nagged away at him was the belief Brian had been taken as the result of a betrayal by someone from within the force. Someone had known where Potter would be at a very specific time and passed on that information or otherwise the IRA had got very lucky. Miller knew which was most likely. He had wanted revenge for Brian’s death and in the immediate aftermath of finding his body, if they had found the culprits, he would have happily taken a literal eye for an eye. He had led one of the most thorough investigations he could ever recall but no one had been brought to justice. He would be able to retire a happy man if he could now find those responsible.
Melanie Adams had returned to her hotel suite suffering from complete physical and mental exhaustion. She had sat staring at the telephone for what seemed an eternity, trying to find the strength to call Carol’s sister Annie. They had met twice briefly, which wasn’t much of a basis for now having to tell her about the death of her sister. It had been the most difficult thing Melanie had ever done in her life and took the last of her strength. Carol had devoted a large part of her adult life to following Melanie everywhere and making life smooth for her. Melanie could only guess at the sacrifices that had entailed. She knew Carol had never found love and Melanie was feeling guilty that had partly been her fault for keeping her so busy and never spending very long in the same place. Their relationship may in theory have been that of employer and employee but over the years they had become friends as well. Carol was like family and would be sorely missed not just for her amazing organization skills but for the evenings they spent together, in various hotel rooms, watching old movies and pigging out on popcorn and chocolate.
Her sister had not surprisingly taken the news badly. At first not even believing what she was hearing. Then she was crying and kept wailing, “It can’t be.” Her husband Jack had taken the phone from her and Melanie had confirmed the news, filling in more of the details. She made him promise to call her if there was anything she could do to help and then left them to their grief.
Next Melanie had called Gerald, her agent, and related the night’s events. He had offered to take the next flight, which she deemed unnecessary but they did agree a statement for the press. He was also going to arrange for new and increased security though as she remarked, it seemed a bit bloody late for that! He made one last protestation that she shouldn’t be alone but that was exactly what she wanted.
When she put the phone down she realised she really had no one else she needed to call that mattered. It had been that way for a long time. She was an only child with no special man in her life, no close family and precious few real friends. Her father had died just after his fiftieth birthday, from lung cancer. She was twenty three at the time and couldn’t remember ever seeing him without a cigarette in his hand. Her mother had died five years later also of cancer but Melanie suspected her broken heart had played a part. Her parents