‘Cissy – what happened in the attic at Toirneach Damhsa? Did you see Ronan and Saoirse up there?’
The red setter suddenly chased off after the ducks and Cissy pointed and laughed. Then she turned soberly to Katie and said, ‘Yes.’
‘But what were you doing up there?’
‘Davy was always going to the dance studio. He used to go to the dance studio almost every day. Sometimes he took me with him because Auntie Abby was out and we’d go to McDonald’s afterwards. I used to like it when they were practising because I could sit and watch the dancing. Nicholas promised that he’d teach me to dance, too. I liked Nicholas. Davy used to like Nicholas. He used to talk about Nicholas all the time, but something happened. I think they had an argument. It was something to do with Danny Coffey, but I don’t know what. Davy kept on going there, but he and Nicholas were a bit funny with each other.’
‘When you say “funny”?’
‘I don’t know. Sulky. But I think Nicholas was scared of Davy, so he didn’t tell him he couldn’t come to the studio any more.’
‘So why was it that Davy visited the dance studio so often? I mean, what did he do when he was there?’
‘He used to go up in the attic with Nicholas, and sometimes Tadhg would go with him, too, but then they had that argument. He still went there, but after that it was mostly only Tadhg who went up into the attic with him.’
‘Is that why you went up there, to find out what they were up to?’
Cissy nodded. Mrs Austin had taken her to have her chopped-off hair cut properly and it was very short now, but feathery at the back of her neck. In her green jacket and green tights she looked like an elf.
‘So how did you get up there?’ Katie asked her.
‘Davy and Tadhg were carrying some boxes up from Davy’s car into the attic. There wasn’t going to be any dancing practice until later, so I told Davy I was bored and I was going to walk home. I often did that. But this time I waited until they had gone down to the car again and then I sneaked up into the attic and hid in this big wooden chest that was half-filled up with old papers and photographs and stuff.’
‘Go on.’
‘Davy and Tadhg came up with another box and this time they opened it. There was a gap under the lid of the chest I was in so that I could just see out.’
Cissy rattled what was left of her Rosey Apple in her mouth and licked her lips. Even with Davy and Tadhg dead, she seemed frightened to tell Katie what she had witnessed.
‘And what was in the box, Cissy? Come on, you can tell me. Nobody else is ever going to know that you told me.’
‘Guns. There was guns in it. You know those guns those guards had when you came to Pana and rescued me? They looked like those.’
‘So Davy and Tadhg were using the attic to store guns?’
Again, Cissy nodded. But then she took out what was left of her boiled sweet, as if she couldn’t eat a sweet and say what she was going to say next both at the same time.
When she did speak, she spoke in a very flat expressionless tone, almost like her foster father Mr Austin talking about rewards programmes.
‘Davy picked up one of the guns and he pulled Tadhg by his shirt collar so that he was close up to him and pointed the gun at his head and said, “Kiss me.”’
‘And did Tadhg kiss him?’
‘Yes.’
‘Just a little kiss or a proper kiss? I’m sorry to have to ask you this, Cissy, but it’s very important. Lots of young dancers have died and we have to know why.’
‘A proper kiss. Like girls do with boys.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘Davy – Davy took down his trousers. He took down his trousers and he stuck his mickey out and pointed the gun at Tadhg and said, “Suck me.”’
‘I see. Was Tadhg scared, do you think?’
Cissy shook her head. She wasn’t looking at Katie – she was looking across the river and Katie guessed that she was picturing in her mind what she had seen in the attic that day.
‘Tadhg was laughing. They were both laughing. It was like they were playing a game.’
‘And did Tadhg—?’
‘Yes. And Davy kept saying harder! harder! or I’ll blow your brains out!’
‘How long did this go on for?’
‘A long time. But then Ronan and Saoirse came up into the attic and saw them doing it.’
‘So what did they say?’
‘They just stared like—’ and here Cissy widened her eyes and let her mouth drop open.
‘And then what?’
‘They started to turn around to go back downstairs, but Davy pointed the gun at them and shouted at them not to move and stay where they were. They put up their hands, but Ronan said that Davy shouldn’t worry, they wouldn’t be after telling anybody what they saw.’
‘What did Davy say?’
‘Davy said they’d better not because he’d make their life hell if they did. Ronan promised they wouldn’t, and so did Saoirse. But then Nicholas was calling from downstairs and saying that he had to leave and would Davy come and move his car so that he could get out.’
‘Go on,’ Katie coaxed her. ‘You’re doing fantastic so far, Cissy. I’m pure proud of you, I can tell you.’
Cissy was clutching Bindy very tight now and stroking her hair over and over.
‘Davy told Tadhg to open one of the boxes and take out a gun, and to open another box and take out some bullets and to load it.’
‘What sort of a gun was it?’
‘A little one.’
‘You mean a pistol?’
‘That’s right. Davy wouldn’t give him one of the big ones because he said he didn’t know how to use it. He said to point it at Ronan and Saoirse and don’t let them leave the attic until he got back from moving his car.’
‘So Tadhg loaded the pistol and kept Ronan and Saoirse covered?’
‘Yes. And Davy went downstairs. When he was gone, Ronan tried to tell Tadhg that they wouldn’t say a word to Nicholas about catching him with Davy, but Tadhg started throwing a rabie. He said he didn’t believe them for a moment and that his marriage to Nicholas was ruined now. He was talking real strange and babbly like one of those cartoons. Ronan said balm out will you, you’re going to hurt one of us in a minute. He went up to him to take the gun away from him and it was then that Tadhg shot him. I nearly almost screamed but I bit my sleeve so I didn’t.’
Cissy stopped for a moment. She was panting and needed to catch her breath. Then, before Katie could ask her to carry on, she said, ‘Saoirse – she was crying “No! no! no!” and she ran over and knelt down beside Ronan. Tadhg pointed the gun right at her head and shot her, too.’
‘What did Tadhg do then?’
‘He just stood there and waited for Davy to come back up. When Davy saw that Tadhg had shot them, Ronan and Saoirse, he didn’t go mad at all. He took the gun away from him, the pistol, but all he said was, “We need to get all of this stuff out of here now, before Nicholas gets back.” He hardly even looked at the two of them lying there dead.’
‘So they carried all the boxes of guns downstairs?’
‘And some other boxes, too. I don’t know what was in them. Then, when all the boxes were gone, Davy came back up on his own and he was fiddling around with something for ages although I couldn’t see what he was doing. When he was gone, though, I could smell a funny smell.’
‘Didn’t you try to leave the attic, though, Cissy, once Davy and Tadhg had gone?’
‘I was scared they were still downstairs. If they’d seen me coming down from the attic they would have known that I’d seen them. So I stayed there and waited. I heard the practice music starting, and the dancing, and then I heard some screaming, and then it was like the whole attic went wooooff—!’ She flung her hands up to describe the TPA exploding.
Katie took hold of both of her hands and smiled at her.
‘You’ve been wonderful, Cissy. You were the only person who saw what happened, but now you’v
e told me all about it, I know for certain who killed Ronan and Saoirse and all of those poor dancers. I’ve recorded what you’ve said, so you won’t have to say it all again, ever. I know it’s going to stick in your mind for a long, long time to come, but try to think that it was only a very bad dream.’
The two of them sat by side, watching the ducks quarrelling close to the water’s edge. After a while a soft fine rain began to fall and they stood up and walked back across to Cissy’s new home, leaving the ghost of Adeen sitting by the river.
*
Katie went home at dusk and picked up Conor from the Gabriel guest house on the way. The soft rain was still falling, so that the landscape looked blurred.
Conor laid his hand on her thigh as she drove and said, ‘You’re quiet.’
‘Yes. Sorry. It’s not you. I’ll tell you all about it when we get in. I’ve had a heap of stuff to take in today and I’m still kind of churning it over.’
‘Oh well, there’s nothing like a good churn, that’s what I always say.’
She slapped his hand and said, ‘Will you ever be serious, you?’
‘I’m always serious. It’s the rest of the world that’s mad.’
Not long after they reached home, and Katie was looking into the fridge to see what they could eat for supper, her iPhone played ‘Fear a’ Bháta’.
‘DS Maguire,’ she said, taking out two thick gammon slices.
‘It’s me again, Detective Super-duper Maguire.’
‘You told me you were going to ring a week ago.’
‘I did, didn’t I? But I changed my mind like, do you know what I mean? I thought, she’s either going to drop the charges against the Guzz, or she’s not. I’ll leave it up to her, that’s what I thought.’
‘How’s Barney?’
‘Well, that’s exactly my point, Detective Super-duper. If you wasn’t prepared to drop the charges against the Guzz without any delay like, I thought, why should I hang about and give her more time to track me down?’
‘So how is Barney? You haven’t hurt him, have you?’
‘Your Barney’s a scrapper, I’ll give him that.’
‘Mother of God, if you’ve hurt him—’
‘You’re not going to drop the charges against the Guzz, are you, Detective Super-duper?’
Katie said nothing for a long time, but eventually she whispered, ‘No. I’m not.’
‘That’s what I thought and so I acted according like. But don’t worry. Your Barney will be returned to you before you can say, “Life’s a bitch and then you die.”’
He hung up and Katie was left standing in the middle of the kitchen holding her iPhone, feeling as if her whole world had suddenly come to a stop. In the corner of the kitchen was Barney’s basket, and his blanket, and his bowl.
Conor came in and saw at once how stricken she was. He put his arms around her and said, ‘It’s Barney, isn’t it? You’ve heard about Barney?’
She nodded, trying not to cry.
*
About twenty minutes later they heard a car pulling up outside the house with a scrunch of tyres. Katie stood up, but before she could go to the window to see who it was, it had driven away.
She went to the front door and opened it but Conor laid his hands on her shoulders and held her back.
‘I’ll go,’ he told her.
He went out into the street and she could see him bending down. When he came back he was carrying Barney in his arms – Barney, with his red coat matted with mud and blood and thistles, his eyes half-closed and his tongue hanging out.
Katie turned away, biting her lip. She didn’t want to remember him like this. She wanted to remember him running by the sea, with his ears flying, leaping in and out of the surf as if he was the happiest dog that had ever lived.
We hope you enjoyed this book!
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GRAHAM MASTERTON was a bestselling horror writer for many years before he turned his talent to crime. He lived in Cork for five years, an experience that inspired the Katie Maguire series.
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About the Katie Maguire Series
Katie Maguire was one of seven sisters born to a police Inspector in Cork, but the only sister who decided to follow her father into An Garda Siochana.
With her bright green eyes and short redhair, she looks like an Irish pixie, but she is no soft touch. To the dismay of some of her male subordinates, she rose quickly through the ranks, gaining a reputation for catching Cork’s killers, often at great personal cost.
Katie spent seven years in a turbulent marriage in which she bore, and lost, a son – an event that continues to haunt her. Despite facing turmoil at home and prejudice at work, she is one of the most fearless detectives in Ireland.
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London, 1750
Beatrice Scarlet is the apothecary's daughter. She can mix medicines and herbs to save the lives of her neighbours - but, try as she might, she can't save the lives of her parents. An orphan at just sixteen, Beatrice marries a preacher and emigrates to America.
New Hampshire, 1756
In the farming community where Beatrice now lives, six pigs are found viciously slaughtered; slices of looking-glass embedded in their mouths. According to scripture, this is the work of Satan - but Beatrice Scarlet suspects the hands of men. As she closes in on the killer, she must act quickly to unmask him - or become the next victim herself…
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First published as an eBook in the United Kingdom United States in 2016 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Graham Masterton, 2016
The moral right of Graham Masterton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
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This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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r this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781784976385
ISBN (HB) 9781784976392
ISBN (XTPB) 9781784976408
ISBN (PB) 9781784976415
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Table of Contents
Welcome Page
About Dead Girls Dancing
Dedication
Epigraph
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Dead Girls Dancing Page 40
