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Fitzmaurice slipped outside, thankful that Edna was upstairs in the tub taking a soak with the door closed and Sean was away for the weekend hiking the Twelve Bens mountain range with his older brother.

“Good morning to you, Noel,” he said with a smile. “Have you been called into work today?”

“Have you seen this?” Clancy said, slapping the Sunday paper against Fitzmaurice’s arm.

“Aye, I have.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what have you gone and done?”

“Not a thing, and I’ll ask you not to be accusing me falsely.”

“The commissioner has been getting calls from every bloody politician in the government about this. They all want answers, Hugh, and so do I. How did the interrogation video get onto a blog?”

Fitzmaurice shrugged nonchalantly. “Hackers?”

“How did John Ryan learn about Joséphine Paquette?”

“Again, I’m without an explanation. Would you like me to go around to her hotel and talk to her?”

“She returned to Canada yesterday.”

Fitzmaurice shook his head sadly. “Bad luck that. I’ll speak to John Ryan about it.”

“That’s already been done,” Clancy said. “He’s claiming Paquette came to him voluntarily with the information about Spalding, and the blog was not of his doing.”

“Well, there you have it,” Fitzmaurice said with a straight face.

“I’m putting you on desk duty until this situation is resolved by way of an official inquiry. Report to my office first thing in the morning.”

“As you wish,” Fitzmaurice said. “But this time, Commissioner, I would gratefully appreciate it if you didn’t have me shredding old documents in the basement. It’s very bad for my allergies.”

Clancy almost smiled at Fitzmaurice’s nonchalance. He was indeed a gifted rapscallion. “You could retire and avoid any unpleasantness.”

Fitzmaurice shook his head. “I’ve done nothing wrong and have no plans to retire until Sean finishes university.”

“Are you going to Sunday Mass?”

“As a good Catholic should. Will I see you there?”

“Not today.”

“Will we be holding George Spalding now that the facts have come to light in the press, or be giving him over to the Yanks?”

“He stays put at Cloverhill. The minister of justice will soon be announcing that in the matter of George Spalding all Irish and international laws will be adhered to without fail.”

“Isn’t that a grand thing, seeing justice served?”

Finally, Clancy smiled. “Indeed it is.”

Chapter Twelve

During the afternoon on the day Sara left for Iraq, Kerney spoke by phone with Susan Berman, the unit production manager for the movie, and explained he would be unable to honor his consultant contract unless child-care arrangements could be made for Patrick.

“That’s no problem, we’ve hired a nanny for some of the cast’s children.”

“Okay, good. There’s another problem, though. I’m going to be a day late getting to Playas. It’s a family matter.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My wife’s been deployed to Iraq unexpectedly.”

“I had no idea your wife was in the military. Of course you can delay your arrival. If I’m not around when you get here, ask for Libby. She’s the nanny. Including Patrick there will only be five children in her care, so he should get a lot of attention.”

“Good,” Kerney said, “he’ll need it.”

“This must be very hard on you.”

“Yes, it is.”

He spent the rest of that afternoon wrapping up little details; dropping off a change-of-address form at the post office, arranging for a lawn service to keep the grounds of the Arlington house tidy until the property sold, notifying utility companies where to send final bills, and meeting with the real estate agent to give him a house key.

The agent assured him the house would sell quickly and at a handsome profit. Kerney didn’t doubt him; real estate values had skyrocketed in the D.C. area over the last three years and the resale market was strong.

On Saturday the movers came to take everything away and put it into storage until Kerney and Patrick returned from the Bootheel. After they departed, Kerney and Patrick took a number of boxes filled with usable