To Keep a Bird Singing

by Kevin Doyle

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean I’m the only one of the four of us that is still alive.’ Irwin sat down. He looked pale. ‘Albert pretended to give in. He said, right, I’ll pay up, how much? He explained that it would take a bit of time to get the money. Over the next few days, he prepared. Maybe we were followed. We were sleepwalking really. Copley even had the film with him when he met Albert, that’s how naive we were.’ Irwin shook his head in despair.

  ‘The meeting was arranged near the Glen. In those days it was a real wilderness. Before we knew it Copley and Spitere were both dead. Albert had at least four others there with him that night. The reason I know this at all is that Egan was on lookout and saw what happened. He was very lucky to get away. If he hadn’t got back to tell me I wouldn’t be here now either.’

  ‘Why didn’t you go to the meeting?’ asked Meabh.

  ‘I was nominated as the backup person. Maybe because I was the least enthusiastic I stayed at the bed and breakfast, looked after our van. I don’t think we even had a plan other than that though. When I heard what happened I just fell apart. Egan was completely distraught. He was hardly able to function. He had stayed out of view and saw everything. Copley and Spitere were bludgeoned to death. I mean, we never expected anything like that, to be met with that violence.’

  Irwin continued, ‘We abandoned our van and made our way back to London by a long, circuitous route. We were terrified. We hitched and got off the beaten track. It worked. Back in London we lay low for a long time. I was traumatised by what had happened, I’ll tell you that. I decided also to advance my plans and go to Australia as soon as I had the money. I gave myself a month. Then Egan vanished. He literally vanished into thin air. I knew immediately I was in danger. I didn’t even dare go to his place I was so scared.’

  ‘How would they have found you in London?’ asked Meabh.

  ‘I have a theory. I don’t believe in God. How could I, right, after seeing the carry-on at Danesfort? But Egan did. My feeling is that Egan was identified by a priest he knew in London. See Albert and his brothers were all Holy Joes, as you probably know. But there was more to it than that. They had connections. I think they put the word out and that was how Egan was located. He went to Mass regularly, silly man, and I believe that was how they found him.’

  There was a very long silence. Meabh looked gravely at Noelie; he didn’t know what to say. It just made sense, that was all that he knew.

  There were tears in Irwin’s eyes. ‘Egan was a great mate. I was very fond of him.’

  Noelie asked if they should take a break but Irwin shook his head.

  ‘It took me a day to make up my mind. I dropped everything. I was near King’s Cross Station and I saw someone looking at me. I got a weird feeling. I don’t know if I was imagining it or not, but I went right then and took all the money I had from the post office and left. I went to Glasgow. I holed up there for a while. I had a very good friend in the shipyards. He was in a working man’s club there. They helped me. Got me new papers and a working passage on a ship for Melbourne. I wandered around out there for a good few years. I was sure they were still after me. I completely avoided the orbit of the Catholic Church. I was afraid of them, still am. They have reach, you know.’

  Noelie nodded.

  ‘Eventually I felt safer. New name, new identity, and I had to cut off all contact with home. I even avoided the Irish community. I re-made myself. Never told anyone about Danesfort other than my wife, in time. But I even made her swear never to mention it to anyone. I was thorough. I’d go to the library sometimes and look up the newspapers from home, but I never made contact with anyone or wrote to anyone to ask about Albert or any of that crew. I just felt it was too dangerous. I knew that if they knew I was still out there they’d come for me.’

  ‘I worked in mining for a long time and then with AMWU, the Australian Mineworkers’ Union. They sent me on various courses to help me. So I got in early on the internet thing and through that I was able to keep an eye on Albert and what he was up to. But I was careful. I always used aliases.’

  Noelie explained to Meabh about Irwin and the self-destructing emails that he had used to arrange Egan’s gravestone. ‘I was shocked when I discovered that the Egan plot could take three coffins. I couldn’t work it out but it would have been crystal clear to Albert.’

  ‘I was getting my courage back, I suppose. It was deliberate, a warning to them. I’m older now and it bothers me more than ever that justice hasn’t been done.’

  Noelie told Irwin that it was Hannah’s interest and persistence that led to the move to establish contact with him. ‘She figured that something important was behind your reluctance to come forward.’

  ‘She was right.’

  The food arrived. It was on a trolley, mainly sandwiches and more tea. Irwin had also ordered cakes. Noelie didn’t have much of an appetite. He took tea. After a while, Irwin continued.

  ‘This is 2010. It’s been nearly forty years since my friends were murdered. Those murders were never discovered and I went into hiding. There were four men there that night at the Glen and we know there were others, connected to the abuse that was going on at the Donnelly farm. I see it a lot more clearly now. We had acquired a film that had the potential to destroy the reputations and careers of some powerful men.’

  Meabh spoke. ‘That’s exactly it. There’s more at the back of this, I think. We don’t know who these people are, what power they have or what links they have, but they’re there.’

  Irwin asked about Jim Dalton and his link to what had happened. Noelie explained about the mole Brian Boru. An unanswered question for Noelie was why Father Boran had returned to Cork in 1970. Albert had implied that it had been to help him. Noelie wondered now if it was to help deal with the threat posed by Irwin and friends? The timing was about right.

  Noelie had a picture of Father Boran. He showed it to Irwin but he didn’t recognise Boran. Noelie posed a different question. It had intrigued him from early on. ‘What piqued your interest in recent events here in Cork?’

  ‘Google’s word alert.’ Irwin smiled. ‘I got to know of it in the early days, again via my union work. I had a bogus name and identity on the net and I set up a system with all the names I was interested in. Copley, Spitere, Egan, Albert Donnelly, and so on. Sometimes I’d get hits but it would often turn out to be someone somewhere else, in California or some place like that. I added overlapping alerts for the Glen, Ballyvolane, ‘human remains’, Danesfort. I had every permutation covered. One day the garda search in the Glen popped up. I couldn’t believe it, I just couldn’t. Garret will tell you I was on the computer day and night after that, to check if anything was coming up about it. I mean it could have been anything but I watched and followed. Then I read about the find and about the Daltons and their disappointment. I knew that it could be one of my missing friends.’

  Noelie smiled. If there was any brightness in all that had happened, then it had arrived with Irwin and the possibility that he might find justice for his murdered friends. Noelie remarked about the quick ID that the gardaí had made on the remains found in Glen Park. ‘Your hand too?’

  Irwin nodded. ‘I sent information to two places, to be sure. To the gardaí at Mayfield and to Red FM, the radio station. I didn’t want it getting “lost”. I also did something else that was smart, if I may say so myself. I had the address for the people that Egan was in digs with when we were all in London. Shirland Road, W9. The boy who was in that house when Egan was in digs subsequently became the owner of the house. He remembered Egan. His parents had gone to the cops at the time. They had actually kept a box with Egan’s belongings in it. The gardaí were coming down with information in no time.’

  ‘They must’ve been wondering.’

  ‘They had no way of getting to me though. I had my tracks covered.’

  Noelie liked Irwin and his wily tenacity. Hannah would have liked him too. He thought about her and suddenly had to excuse himself. In
the bathroom with his back pushed against the door he broke down. She should be here with them all now. What would he do without her?

  Irwin and Meabh were chatting quietly when Noelie returned. He had been telling her that he had made contact with a solicitor and was now intending to present himself at Anglesea Street Station the following day to make a full and complete statement about what had happened. He wasn’t sure what would be made of such a report but he was now determined to have the murders recorded.

  The meeting ended shortly afterwards. Irwin was planning to have a nap and then he wanted to walk around Cork to see how it had changed. Noelie would’ve been interested to accompany him but he felt they needed to press on. Down in the hotel foyer he said, ‘Your mother knows more than she is admitting. I think it’s time to pay her a visit.’

  Meabh agreed immediately.

  43

  It was still bright when they reached Mitchelstown. Mrs Sugrue was in her garden at the gable end of the house, kneeling at a flowerbed. She looked up as they opened her gate then looked away. They stopped a short distance from where she was working. She ignored them.

  ‘Can we talk?’ Noelie asked.

  ‘I don’t want to talk.’

  ‘Children were abused at the Donnelly farm in Ballyvolane. Boys were taken there and assaulted, the weakest, the most vulnerable children. We have proof, we have a film. It’s the same film that your husband possessed at one time. It is probably why he was killed. You owe it to him to tell us what you know.’

  Mrs Sugrue looked angry; she didn’t acknowledge Meabh. ‘I owe you nothing.’

  She stood up, walked to the back of the house and went inside. At the door she attempted to stop Meabh following. Meabh barged through. Noelie followed.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ shouted Meabh. ‘Do you hear me? I’m your daughter, I’m yours … Why did you never help me?’

  Although Mrs Sugrue was standing defiantly on the other side of the kitchen table, she had turned pale.

  Meabh shouted once more. ‘Why did you never help me?’

  ‘I tried to help, I did my best. I contacted Robert Donnelly. I told him and he listened. At this very table, here in this house. He came all the way here and I told him what you said had happened. He asked me not to let the matter go any further.’

  ‘And you accepted that?’ Meabh looked incredulous. ‘He did nothing, don’t you see?’

  Mrs Sugrue didn’t reply; she looked very uncomfortable.

  Meabh moved closer. ‘You make no sense. I’ll never understand you.’

  Mrs Sugrue appeared to wilt. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

  ‘Did Robert Donnelly accept that something had happened?’ Noelie asked.

  ‘Llanes was his home. He lived there with Albert. He said that if an allegation of assault was made, it would ruin him.’

  ‘Which was probably true,’ said Noelie.

  Meabh glared at him. ‘Who gives a shit? Robert Donnelly can drop fucking dead for all I care. What about me?’

  ‘There was more than you to think of, Meabh. There was this family and there was also your father’s career. Everything was within Robert Donnelly’s gift. You don’t realise how it was.’

  Meabh shook her head. ‘No,’ she admitted, beginning to cry. ‘I don’t.’

  ‘The Donnellys are not what they seem. Albert isn’t Robert’s real brother. Officially he is. His birth certificate records that he is but he’s not and he knows he’s not.’ Mrs Sugrue paused. ‘The two of them never got on. It’s a lot worse than that – there’s hatred between them. I feel so bad for Robert now that he has ended up in that house under Albert’s care. I’m sure Albert mistreats him.’

  ‘Fuck him,’ screamed Meabh. ‘Do you hear me? Fuck him.’

  Noelie went across to Meabh. He wanted her to hold back and allow her mother to talk. He figured that Mrs Sugrue knew quite a lot more than she had let on so far; he wanted to know what she knew.

  But Meabh couldn’t hold back. She was standing over her mother, crying. ‘They matter more than me, is that it?’

  There was no reply from her mother.

  ‘Why is the relationship between Albert and Robert so important?’ asked Noelie.

  Mrs Sugrue looked at him. ‘Robert was not his own man. By the time the incident with Meabh happened, he was–’

  ‘It was not an “incident”.’

  Noelie felt sorry for Meabh. The description, he realised, probably reflected what Meabh’s mother thought of what had happened to her daughter. He went to Meabh and tried to put his arm around her but she pushed him away.

  ‘Robert was afraid of Albert. I didn’t understand that until he came here that night. Sean had hinted at it a few times.’

  Suddenly Meabh left. She turned, went out the back door and down the garden. Noelie saw her at the fence retching. He went out and got her to a garden seat. He explained that he wanted to go back inside and keep her mother talking. She nodded.

  Inside Mrs Sugrue was still at the table. She looked miserable.

  ‘Why would Robert Donnelly be afraid of Albert, Mrs Sugrue? It just doesn’t make sense. Robert was a top policeman in the city. He wasn’t without means.’

  ‘I’m saying he begged me not to take my complaint further. I mean he really begged me. He believed Albert was trying to destroy him.’ Mrs Sugrue paused. ‘I believed him.’

  ‘Was he physically afraid of Albert or was it something more? Was Albert blackmailing him?’

  ‘If a child is abused it doesn’t just stop when you say it should. It would’ve been a disaster.’

  Noelie didn’t understand what Mrs Sugrue meant. He waited and then asked, ‘Had Robert Donnelly other things to hide? I know your husband was suspicious. Did something happen inside Let There Be Light?’

  Mrs Sugrue wouldn’t look up.

  Noelie continued, ‘I want to think the best of Robert Donnelly. I want to believe that he didn’t know that there was abuse going on but I’m beginning to wonder. See, we know there were other crimes. Some people found out that Albert had films showing abuse and they were killed. Did Robert Donnelly know about those crimes? Did he help cover them up too, to save his career maybe? It would make him an accessory to murder.’

  Mrs Sugrue didn’t react. She didn’t look interested either.

  ‘I’m asking again, Mrs Sugrue, did Robert Donnelly cover up crimes at the farm and was that what Albert had over him?’

  Without looking at Noelie, Mrs Sugrue nodded.

  ‘Albert had the means to destroy his brother, to destroy all of them, everything. Robert knew it and believed that Albert would carry it out too. Robert didn’t want that. No one did. Let There Be Light has done good work. Everyone has put a lot into it.’

  ‘Did you know about the films?’

  ‘There were rumours. I had heard those.’

  ‘Your husband had one of the films. It was part of the evidence he had accumulated, the evidence that got him killed. How did he get it in the first place?’

  ‘Sean was a good man. One of the best. He didn’t like Albert, never took to him and he was close to Robert. What happened to Meabh …’ Mrs Sugrue paused for a long moment. ‘We had to keep it from Sean. I would never have told him, ever, but Meabh had to blab. Sean was bound to face up to the situation then. There was no other course open to him. But look where it led.’ She spat her answer at Noelie. ‘To his death.’

  ‘You denied all this when I first came here.’

  Mrs Sugrue stood. ‘I’ve lived on my wits for years. I’ve had to live with lot of things that I’ve never wanted to have any hand, act or part in. I didn’t want to help you either and I still don’t.’

  Noelie was angry but he didn’t want to aggravate Mrs Sugrue; he wanted to keep her talking. He asked about the Danesfort photo.

  ‘Sean never brought work home. It was a rule with him, to protect us all he said. The night of Jim Dalton’s murder was an exception. He was in turmoil afterwards. I remember it clearly.
He told me everything that had happened at that house outside Mallow. He never spoke of it again after that night. Jim Dalton ranted in the car on the drive to Mallow. He spoke in Irish. Sean was a fluent speaker and so was Dalton. It passed over Lynch’s head. Dalton talked about an abuser at Danesfort and finding him, and being punished for that. None of it made any sense to Sean but he listened and it stayed in his head. It was one of the things he told me that night when he arrived back here. But I knew about Danesfort. I told him about the Donnellys’ links to the institution.’

  Noelie was surprised. ‘But how did you know about those?’

  ‘Because I’m related to the Donnellys. I’m a cousin. Robert and Tony’s mother, Clara Riordan, in other words Old Donnelly’s wife, died in childbirth with their third child. The child died too. Albert came much later on. I don’t know if you know this but Albert came from Spain. He was one of those orphans that they traded from there. It was a very secretive arrangement. I don’t know the full story but I understand there is something about his origins.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘He’s a child of the war, of what can happen in war.’ Mrs Sugrue looked away. ‘My mother and Robert Donnelly’s mother were first cousins. Robert was always good to me for that reason. It’s why I’m close to him. It was partly why he minded Sean too. He looked out for Sean because he was looking out for me.’ Mrs Sugrue hesitated. ‘Old Donnelly never took to Albert. Robert said he was treated terribly as a child. One story was that Albert was gifted to Old Donnelly for him losing his leg in the war there, but Old Donnelly despised Albert from the outset.’ Mrs Sugrue shook her head. ‘I never liked Old Donnelly. A nasty piece of work and a drunkard. Robert would say sometimes that he wasn’t surprised by how Albert turned out.’

  Noelie joined Mrs Sugrue at the window. Meabh was still sitting on the seat outside. A black cat had joined her and was sitting on her lap.

  ‘So you put your husband on to Danesfort. Then in time he found the Danesfort photo at the Dalton house. He probably recognised Tony Donnelly in it and realised then that what Jim Dalton had told him in Irish was quite possibly true.’