Pale in the face and with great reluctance, Ryan told him. Barry had a ruler and pencil at hand. “A cinch, this. As you can see, the map is marked in degrees top and bottom.” He quickly drew two lines, one bisecting the other. “There you are, three miles
out I make it. Just off Rathlin Island. Did you know that, Michael?” “It was dark.” “Ah: well, let’s have a look at the Admiralty Chart for the area. I got one of those, too.” It was larger in scale and covenxi the Down coast, the Isle of Man, and the northwest of England. He repeated the exercise. “There you go.” He threw down the pencil. “Fifteen to twenty fathoms she’s lying in.” “Between ninety and a hundred and twenty feet.” So!lazo nodded. “No problem.” Barry nodded. “When your uncle phoned me last night to say you were taking off, he told me that as ‘far as the pre ‘hininary dive to establish the ship’s position was concerned, you’d do it yourself. He said you were an expert scuba diver.” “I’ve been diving in the Caribbean for years, the’ Virgins, St. Lucia-” So!lazo shrugged. “Moil dives with me. We can easily handle a dive like this.” “Your uncle askS! me to provide the equipment.
I know the right man. Friendly to our cause, you might say. He has a place on a trading estat on the outs kirts of Dublin. I thought you and I could take a run in this afternoon.” “That’s fine. Mori can baby-sit our friends here.
He’ll need to he armed. Can you see to that?” “There’s an arsenal here if you know where to look for it. I’ll see to it.” “Fuck you, mister,” Katlileen Ryan said and stormed out. ‘I ‘I z36 KILREA COLLEGE WAS NEXT TO A CONVENT ON the outskirts of the village. The garden was a joy, flowers and bushes of every description. The college itself was Victorian, with Gothic gables and leaded windows. Dillon gave the bell pull a tug and it echoed inside. A moment later the door opened and Liam Devlin stood there.
“So there you are, you young bastard,” he said to Dillon, in Irish.
“As ever was,” Dillon replied in the same language.
Devlin turned to Hannah. “And you’ll be that old sod Ferguson’s good fight hand, the famous Chief Detective Inspector Hannah Bernstein.” He looked her over with approval. “The lucky one he is and always was. Anyway, cead mile falte, and that’s Irish for a hundred thousand welcomes. Come away in.” Hannah was totally astoshed. She’d expected an from man of eighty-five instead found someone full of energy and life, still with some color in his hair, wearing a black silk shirt and Armani slacks cut in the latest fashion. The eyes were the bluest she had ever seen and he had the same ironic quirk to his mouth as did Dillon. It was as if they were laughing at a world too absurd to take seriously.
The sitting room was a delight, all very Victorian, from the fire in the grate and the mahogany furniture to the Atkinson Grimshaw paintings. She was examining them when Devlin brought tea from the kitchen on a tray.
z37 “Good God, these are the real thing?” “Yes, I invested wisely a few years back. I’ve always had a thing for old Grimshaw. Love his night scenes. Whistler once said that to call him the master of the nocturne was false. That anything be knew he’d learned from Grimshaw.” He poured the tea and Hannah said, “My grandfather has one. The Thames Embankment at Night.” “Oh, a man of taste and discernment. What does he do?” “He’s a rabbi.” Devlin laughed out loud. “Jesus, girl, and that’s a showstopper if ever I heard one.” I-Iannah felt suddenly breathless. What an absolutely marvelous, marvelous man. One of the most extraordinary people she’d ever met.
Devlin sat in a chair by the fire. “So it’s working for the Brits flow, is it, Sean?” “Sure and you know I am.” “Does that give you a problem, Mr. Devlin?” Hannah asked.
“Call me Liam, girl dear. No, whatever I am, I’m no hypocrite. I once worked for Ferguson mYSelf.” “He didn’t say.” Hannah frowned.