*That was a bit mercenary.'

*I was a bit thirsty. It isn't the whole story, Doctor. Ask my wife. Sometimes I've to hide my own good nature under the guise of a commercial transaction.' The doctor nodded doubtfully. *Besides, I thought you'd sympathise a particularly if you're drinking that muck Duncan was hiking around last night. It's lethal.'

*Yes. Well. It's an acquired taste.'

*a.r.s.enic is an acquired taste too.' I held up the sheet. *But this, this is a treasure map. Buried in a field, Jack McGettigan's horde of booze. Jesus, there must be tonnes of it.'

Finlay wasn't so sure. He took the letter from me and quickly ran his eyes over it. *Why go to the trouble of burying drink?' he asked. *You'd be better pouring it down the drain.'

*Unless you weren't quite certain about the future and needed something to fall back on. I'm sure Jesus did the odd bit of joinery when the alms collection didn't come up to scratch.'

He sucked in. His eyes closed slightly, letting out only a cool, appraising light. He blew smoke down his nose. *You're very flippant about things, Starkey, aren't you?'

I shrugged. *What can I say? I had the impression first time we met that you were less than devoted to the McCooeys. I didn't think you'd mind.'

*I'm not devoted to the McCooeys. That doesn't mean I'm not devoted to Christine.'

*Of course.' It was becoming a familiar excuse, or defence.

We were both silent for a while. He puffed again. He was thinking. He looked at the letter again, then handed it back to me.

*She was a daft old bird,' he said.

*A blue bird now.'

*Aye.'

*And she enjoyed a drink. You could tell that from looking at her.'

*I suppose she did.'

*But she wasn't a member of your wee group?'

The doctor shook his head. *It was a men's group.'

*But she knew where the booze was hidden, and youse didn't.'

*Well, that remains to be seen.'

*True. And there's only one way to find out.' I waited for him to say something, but he just kept a steady, thoughtful gaze upon me. I said it for him. *We should go take a look. Are you game?'

He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. *The way things are now it would be madness,' he said. *Father White and his crowd are all riled up. We get caught with a load of booze there's no telling what they'll do to us. Look what they tried on Mary Reilly.'

*I asked you if you were game.'

He sniffed up. Took another drag on his cigarette, the last, then threw the b.u.t.t into the sink where it hissed in a soaking cereal bowl. We locked eyes for a long moment, then a tongue darted unconsciously out and licked his lips. His own tongue, of course. It was The Sign. He was hooked.

34.

*I think youse are mad,' Patricia said from the doorway.

The four of us had shovels. Me, Dr Finlay, Duncan Cairns, Willie Nutt. I hadn't met Willie Nutt before. He was small and squat, his hair was close-cropped and he had the jangly eyes of a man who enjoyed living up to his own name. Both names, in fact. He had been responsible for the graffiti at the church. He kept a bottle of the AFLR's poison in his pocket and from time to time took a long slug. It didn't seem to affect him at all. We all refused when he offered it round.

As we climbed into Dr Finlay's Land-Rover, Patricia shook her head again. *What's the point?'

Willie Nutt put his head out of the window. *I haven't had a pint of Harp in eight months,' he said. *That's the point.'

She moved around to the driver's door. *You're only asking for trouble. Doctor a surely you see the stupidity of this.'

Dr Finlay smiled sympathetically. *Of course I do, dear,' he said, and pulled the door shut.

She hurried round the front, catching me as I put one foot into the vehicle. *Dan?'

*What?'

*Promise me one thing.' She grabbed my arm, then brushed her lips across my cheek.

*What?'

*If you find it, the drink, don't bring it all back here. We're in enough trouble.'

*I'm not stupid, Patricia.'

*Well, what do you intend to do with it?'

*Drink it, of course.'

*Every last drop,' said Willie Nutt, laughing.

*This isn't funny,' said Patricia.

Finlay started the engine. I gave my wife a loving shrug, then looked at my companions. With the doors closed and the windows up, I became suddenly aware of a strange, unappetising smell.

Finlay kept the lights off. The moon winked out from between storm clouds as we b.u.mped carefully along the lane. The b.u.mps could have been potholes or rabbit skulls. Willie Nutt sat in the back beside Duncan, softly laughing to himself and sipping.

*Is he wise?' I whispered to the doctor.

*Wise enough.' He looked up at Willie in the mirror.

Willie caught his eye, leant forward. *I've betrayed Christine,' he said.

I looked at him. I didn't know what to say.

*I'm Judas,' he said.

I looked at him still.

He held up his bottle. *And this is Judas's carry-out.'

He cackled once and sat back. I glanced at Duncan, but he wasn't listening. He was staring out into the darkness, his face shadowed save for a hint of white where he bit down on his lip.

*He's not wise,' I said to the doctor.

*Wise enough,' said the doctor.

I looked back again. *You okay, Duncan?'

Duncan nodded absently. *Sure.'

*Thirsty?'

He cracked a little. *Aye.'

*Good.'

I nodded at Willie. *So what do you do for a living?'

He gave a gap-toothed smile. *What'dya think?'

I'd pretty much guessed already. *Does it involve fish?'

*Aye.'

*Catching them?'

*Smoking them.'

*You smoke fish?'

*Aye. And cigarettes.'

*Which do you prefer?'

*Well, I don't lie back with a smoked herring in me gob after s.e.x. He-he-heh.'

Finlay glanced back. *Since when did you start having s.e.x, Willie?'

*He-he-heh,' said Willie and snuggled down in his seat.

We drove in silence for about five minutes. There was no other traffic. Then Finlay nodded forward. *It's only up the road here,' he said.

*This Mulrooney that owns the field. He'd know the drink was there, wouldn't he?' I asked.

*I don't know,' said Finlay.

*We can hardly ask him,' said Duncan.

*But it's not likely someone can bury the entire contents of a bar in one of your fields and you not know anything about it,' I said. *He may be keeping guard.'

Finlay shook his head. *Gerry Mulrooney is eighty-nine if he's a day and is mostly away with the fairies. You could build forty-eight bungalows in his front garden and he mightn't notice.'

*Oh.'

*So we're not likely to be disturbed,' he continued, *at least not by him.'

*He-he-heh,' heheed Willie Nutt from behind.

*He's already disturbed,' I said.

Finlay shook his head. *Leave him be. He's as sound as a pound. He just enjoys his own company.'

The doctor pulled the car into an open gateway and then we trundled slowly along the edge of a field. When he stopped the vehicle and switched the engine off we were enveloped by the sound of angrily crashing waves. Spits of sea and rain stung us as we clambered out. At least the noise of it all would disguise our digging. About three hundred yards back up on the brow of the hill sat Mulrooney's farm. There was a light in one window.

Finlay produced a torch from beneath his seat and shone it around the corner of the field where it dipped towards the sea. The gra.s.s, knee length everywhere else, was noticeably shorter here, but that was to be expected with the sea salt and wind.

*I'm sorry, I only have the one torch,' Finlay said, *but we should spread out along here, look for . . .'

*Look for this?' Willie Nutt shouted.

*Shhhh,' Duncan hissed nervously.

Willie had tramped some twenty yards back, unnoticed. His diminutive frame was almost lost in the dark, but as we hurried towards him we could see that he was standing by an untidy scar cut into the gra.s.s with a low mound of earth at its centre, like a scab.

Finlay clapped Willie on the back. *You have a nose for alcohol, young William,' he said.

Duncan shook his head. *Jackie didn't disguise it very well.'

*He's been careless because he's been nervous,' said the doctor.

We unslung the spades and stood on either side of the mound, each of us waiting for another to plunge the blade into the soft earth. The wind whipped through us. It was unpleasant business.

Willie Nutt offered his bottle round again.

We weren't that cold.

*Party time just around the corner, boys,' Finlay said finally and plunged his spade into the mound.

*Digging up our own pub,' said Willie, following suit. *Kegs and kegs and kegs of beer.'

*I'm going to set a keg up in my back room,' said Duncan.