The Drowned Read Free Page B

They’re all worried sick. All of the lads’ mobile phones are dead and so far nobody’s seen hide nor hair of them. We’re not out to arrest them. We just want to make sure they’re alive and well.’
    ‘That’s what you say,’ said the stubble-chinned boy, sitting back on the wall. He sucked at his joint and then let the smoke leak out of his mouth and up his nostrils.
    ‘They was all here Tuesday night,’ the skinny girl persisted.
    ‘Maeve,’ said the stubble-chinned boy. ‘I thought I told you to shut the feck up.’
    ‘Well you did, but I’m not going to, because I was supposed to be meeting Aidan tonight to go bowling and I haven’t heard a word from him. This lady’s right. His phone’s dead and so’s Darragh’s because I tried to ring him, too.’
    ‘What time were they here on Tuesday night?’ asked Detective Ó Doibhilin.
    ‘I don’t know for sure. It must have been after half-past eight because I’d had my tea and changed to come out and Fair City had finished.’
    ‘How long did they stay? We were told they went down to Havana Brown’s that evening.’
    ‘That’s what they was planning to do, yes. But they came here first because they were meeting this feller who was going to sell them some Es.’
    ‘For Christ’s sake, Maeve,’ the stubble-chinned boy protested. ‘These are the fecking shades you’re talking to here.’
    ‘I don’t care,’ said Maeve. ‘What if they’ve had a crash and Aidan and the other lads have gone off the road and they’re upside down in a field and nobody can see them, and they’re all seriously injured, like, and they’re trapped so they can’t get out, but they’re bleeding to death or starving to death?’
    ‘What in the name of God are you blethering about?’ said the stubble-chinned boy. ‘There’s no fecking fields around here they could be upside down in. For feck’s sake.’
    ‘It happened to that woman and her daughter in Fermoy, didn’t it, only last week? And they both died.’
    ‘That field was under a metre of water, you gomie lackeen, you.’
    Detective Scanlan went across and sat on the wall next to Maeve and said gently, ‘So... they came here first to buy some Es. Why didn’t they simply go down to the city and buy them there?’
    ‘Because there’s a feller comes here regular and gives them a bargain price, that’s why.’
    ‘Holy St Joseph and all the fecking carpenters,’ said the stubble-chinned boy, blowing out smoke. ‘How to be a snitch in one easy lesson.’
    ‘So did he show up, this feller?’ asked Detective Scanlan. ‘And did the lads buy their Es?’
    Maeve nodded. ‘That was about ten o’clock, I’d say. Then this taxi showed up and they all got into the taxi and left. And I’ve not seen one of them since. And neither have you, Colm, have you? Admit it!’
    ‘Oh go and feck yourself,’ said the stubble-chinned boy, flicking the glowing butt of his joint into the darkness.
    Detective Scanlan stood up. ‘Have any of you seen any of these five lads since Tuesday evening? Come on, speak up. Maeve may be right and we may be talking about saving their lives here.’
    Reluctantly, the rest of the young people shook their heads and mumbled, ‘No.’
    ‘Did any of you see where the taxi came from?’ asked Detective Ó Doibhilin. ‘Did it have the name of the cab company written on the side of it? Or any kind of picture, or a badge?’
    One of the boys said, ‘It was like a people carrier, do you know what I mean? I don’t think it had any kind of a taxi light on the top of it. Black, I’d say it was, or very dark blue, or maybe brown.’
    ‘So it looked like they’d ordered it?’
    ‘That’s right. The driver parked right over there, like, and waited for them. We had a couple of minutes’ more craic, and then they said, “G’luck so, this is our ride.” They all went over and climbed into the taxi, and zoom, off they shot.’
    ‘Right,’ said Detective Ó Doibhilin, taking out his