Eye for an Eye Read Online Free

they had a slight cast, which Katie found disconcerting, because she was never quite sure if he was looking at her directly or not.
    His office was stark and bare, with a white desk and a plum-coloured carpet and white Venetian blinds, through which Katie could see factory entrance and the car park and the concrete workshops outside. The only decoration was an array on the wall behind him of spades and shovels and adjustable wrenches, and several other tools that his factory manufactured.
    ‘Please, sit down,’ he said. ‘I was still on the train when you sent me your text, and then Clodagh filled me in with all the rest of the details as soon as I got back. I was very sorry to hear about that priest. And to think he was murdered right next door – that’s desperate!’
    ‘That’s the reason I wanted to talk to your workforce,’ said Katie. ‘The forensic evidence indicates that the offender gained access to Mary O’Donnell’s garden through a gap in the fence that separates her property from yours.’
    ‘Now, stall there a minute,’ said Redmond. ‘You’re not suggesting surely that one of our workforce was responsible?’
    ‘I’m not suggesting anything at the moment. All I want to do is to ask your staff if any of them saw anything that might help us in our investigation. The individual we suspect of having killed Father Fiachra could have been dressed very distinctively, in black clothing with a black hood and what may have been a black mask covering his or her face, with shiny red eyes.’
    Redmond raised his eyebrows. ‘Jesus, that sounds scary! Why would they have dressed up like that? It’s not Hallowe’en for a few months yet, is it?’
    ‘We believe that our suspect may have been trying to persuade Mary O’Donnell that he or she was Satan. Why, we have no idea, to be honest with you. But he’s been appearing repeatedly in her garden for the past several weeks and she was growing increasingly frightened of him. As you would expect her to be, a little old lady living on her own.’
    Redmond said, ‘That’s totally understandable. I’ll call all the staff together into the canteen and you can put your questions to them. So long as they don’t feel that they’re being accused of anything, you know. I vet all my employees personally and I can vouch for every one of them.’
    He called in his secretary and told her to put out an announcement that everybody in the Toolmate workforce was to gather as soon as possible in the staff canteen. Then he stood up and came over to Katie and said, ‘That was a grand evening, that autistic dogs do. Perhaps we should do it again sometime. Just you and me, you know.’
    Detective O’Donovan looked up at him and cleared his throat sharply, as if he were warning him to keep his distance.
    Katie said, ‘Too busy these days, I’m afraid, Redmond. If it’s not a charity evening it’s a public meeting and if it’s not a public meeting it’s a late-night sitting of the district court. I hardly even get the time to take my dog for a walk.’
    ‘There’s a pity,’ said Redmond. ‘If you do ever have a free evening, though, give me a call.’
    ‘Thank you, Redmond,’ said Katie. ‘I’m flattered, but it wouldn’t be appropriate, not at the moment, not right in the middle of this investigation.’
    ‘You’re not saying that I’m a suspect, are you?’ said Redmond, pressing one hand over his heart with mock sincerity.
    ‘Like I say, I’m not suggesting anything at the moment,’ Katie told him. ‘It’s just a matter of procedure.’
    ‘Oh, well,’ said Redmond. ‘That’s the first time a woman’s turned me down as a matter of procedure, I have to admit.’
    It would help if I knew which way you were looking , thought Katie.
    *
    Redmond ushered Katie and Detective O’Donovan into the staff canteen, where Toolmate’s workforce had assembled. As he did so, he laid his hand gently on Katie’s shoulder.
    There were thirty-five workers