A BUSINESSMAN LOST IN DONEGAL

 A BUSINESSMAN LOST IN DONEGAL

Alan Baker, who was nineteen years old and the most important sergeant of the Garda Síochána, was investigating a murder which had happened in Donegal the night before the last day of the summer while he was coming back his house by train: he watched a man, who was wearing gloves, shooting a gun in the heart of another who was sitting next to him; the subway stopped at the final railway station and the killer went out of the carriage quickly running away.

Sergeant Baker’s brother, a man who was twenty years older than him whose name was Gareth and who was living in Cardiff, was investigating the disappearance of a Scottish businessman in Donegal also with his associate Ansgar Bach —the last one was helping him from his house of Newport— who set up with Gareth a private investigation firm in Swansea a day before Alan’s birth, the 29th of December 2000. He arrived at Belfast by ferry and he rented a car to go to the city where the sergeant was involved in the mystery trying to solve it.

Gareth met with Alan at a pub of the city centre where they have eaten their dinner whilst they were talking about the two cases. When the oldest of the two brothers knew the murder which Alan was investigating, he thought that the disappearance of the Scottish businessman and the crime were connected because the victim of the homicide which his brother was trying to solve had the same physical description as the stepbrother of the Scottish businessman who had disappeared at the same town where the businessman’s wife had seen him for the last time.

They finished to eat their meal and Alan, whereas he came into his white Smart two-seater and was switching on the engine, said goodbye to his brother Gareth and they arranged to meet at the police station the next morning at eight o’clock. Gareth set off for his hotel and Alan came back to his house where their parents George and Diana —the owners of a hotel in Limerick named Baker’s Hotel— were waiting for him watching the television and eating some popcoms; however, when he arrived and parked his car in the garage he got a phone call that he had to answer straight away…

… It was from one of his friends, Peter O’Shea, who was a Garda inspector, the main responsible of the investigation, the person who began the case with Alan’s help. He told him that an agent had discovered the corpse of a businessman floating in the river and when the surgeon had made the autopsy, she had discovered that was been killed with a handgun three or four hours before in another part and that the murderer had moved the body to the place where the agent had seen it; the killer was the same man as Alan had watched how he had murdered the other who was sitting next to him in the train.

Sergeant Baker phoned his male sibling and narrated to him what had happened. Gareth decided to go to the scene of the crime to see the cadaver and photograph the place where the police was searching for some clues and fingerprints that the killer may had had misplaced it whilst he was discussing with the victim before committing his death. After that, he got into his car again and he headed for the setting in which the law enforcement was.

Just after he arrived, inspector O’Shea told him that, at last, they had known the place where the victim had been murdered; it had been committed at the same carriage of the subway where the other had happened. He added that the name of the dead person was Martin McCarthy and was the businessman which Gareth was looking for… He had a debt with his stepbrother Simon, nevertheless the economic reason had to be driven out of the list because Simon had been killed also and he couldn’t do it.

“As we can see in the corpse the killer had used a handgun to commit the murder. However, if you come and see closer than now, you will find some scars surrounding his neck that shows you that they had fighted before Martin’s death!” exclaimed the forensic surgeon.

“So, the killer strangled him before shooting the handgun in Martin’s heart?” asked the sergeant to the surgeon whilst he was getting close to the victim to see better what her friend had told him some minutes before.

“Yes, but I will prove it later on after doing the autopsy!” she answered and leaved him alone searching something as the murder weapon, the murderer’s fingerprints, his gloves in case he had used, … However he couldn’t find it and he had to come back to the police station with the inspector O’Shea who was wondering himself why the murderer had killed the second victim.

Some minutes later, when they arrived at the office, Alan —who was intuiting what his chief was thinking— suggested him a possible answer for his question; he told him his thoughts: Mr. McCarthy maybe had had an extramarital affair with another woman and as his wife knew that, she had decided to kill him as revenge for his betrayal.

Peter O’Shea agreed with the sergeant. Notwithstanding, pursuant to the interview that he held with McCarthy’s bride, she denied any type of extramarital relationship of his husband but she asserted that Martin had financial troubles with his business and he had had to request a loan to the crime syndicate because the bank did not want to give him some money when he asked them for it.

Inspector O’Shea ordered to Alan to look over Mrs. McCarthy’s bank account to check if she was in Donegal when the crime had happened and if she had done any transfer as the purchasing of a boarding pass from Scotland to Ireland by plane and the arrival had taken place a day before the first or the second murder… But the sergeant negated it; nonetheless a payment from Martin’s bank account to his possible mistress seemed a little odd: he had paid her with the amount of two thousand pounds and, as Martin’s wife had told them, he had economic problems with his enterprise.

Alan hinted at Peter to go to visit the woman and interrogate her. Peter searched for her address in the police database and he discovered that the lady was been killed three years before in her house but anyone could not arrest the guilty because all of the suspects had an alibi that were verified by the superintendent of the case as reliable alibis according to the clues of the homicide.

Then, when they had the knowledge of that murder, Alan wanted to know who was been the leader and Peter told him that when that crime had occurred, he was a policeman who was working in a police station of Dublin but when the leader of the case requested for his services he moved to Donegal and met with John Murray, the main responsible at that moment that nowadays worked in Galway as chief superintedent although he was living in the city.

Moreover they discovered also that he had had a little holydays when the first murder had passed and that he had came back to Donegal with the same train where Alan was and where he saw how the murderer had killed the man who was sitting close to him… The sergeant called him but the chief superintendent of Galway did not answer the phone call.

He put on his coat and leaved the base of operations to go to the village where, maybe, he was, to query him about the case shelved due to lack of evidence. Nonetheless, he was not in his office and when he asked Peter if he was in his house, inspector O’Shea kept him informed that John had bought a boarding pass from Dublin to New York with the same quantity of money that Martin had paid to his lover.

Peter O’Shea searched in the police database if John Murray had any criminal record and he found out that he was been arrested considering that he was a member of the mafia but when the judge ordered to free him, foreseeing a possible jailing, he changed his name and enrolled himself into the public examination to be an agent of Garda that he passed and become superintendent two years before the unsolvable homicide; the leader of the crime syndicate ordered him to murder the woman because she had told to the police that she had seen him trafficating with two Islamic terrorists, selling them some weapons. John did it and, when he had to open the case, hindered the investigation to prevent to be arrested again.

The sergeant arrived at Dublin’s airport and arrested him with the help of two police officers who were waiting for him as he requested to the superintendent of Dublin. When the inspector and the sergeant asked John why he had murdered Mr. McCarthy and his stepbrother, he answered that he was not guilty because he did not meet them and he wanted to know what was his offence.

Alan talked with the scientific police force and asked if Martin’s body had any fingerprint from the killer in the marks that were surrounding his neck and the forensic surgeon answered him affirmatively with the identity of the person who caused his death: it was the son who choked him.

Peter had to free Mr. Murray due to lack of evidence and he phoned Mrs. McCarthy to know if her son Arthur was with her. When she knew where he was, he went out of the station and went to their house to interrogate Arthur McCarthy who was sitting on the bench of his garden; the young McCarthy, who must not would surpassed the fifteen years old, when he saw the inspector, he began to run and eluded him firstly but the inspector shoot him in his right leg and arrested Arthur who came into the police car obeying his enemy.

“We have evidence that you killed your father Martin. Which was your reason to do it?” sergeant Baker asked, showing him also the references which the forensic surgeon had given to him about the fingerprints of Martin’s neck. “Of course, if you do not collaborate with us, we will arrest you as one of the guilties! Your suffocating did not cause your father’s death but you tryed to kill him!” added Alan.

“I will not answer your questions without the presence of my lawyer!” he answered and hit on the table very angry.

Two hours and a half took the interview. The room was quiet but some minutes later a policeman came into the office and told to Alan that Mrs. McCarthy had been killed by someone in her residence; Arthur cried whilst the sergeant put on his jacket and went out again of his workplace to go to the scene of the crime.

There, the forensic surgeon already was, who kept him informed about the cause and the time of the death, showing him what he had found: at last they had the murder weapon which the ballistic analysis validated his thoughts because the calibre was the tipical of the police sidearms… John had used gloves to commit the three murders and the same method to carry out it also: firstly he had stifled his victims and in the end he had shot his firearm to wrap up their lives.

He came back to the boys in blue base of operations to free Arthur McCarthy and to get John Murray’s confession after three policemen would have arrested him again. The guy owned up his guilty and claimed that he had had to homicide Martin’s stepbrother, to kidnap and to kill Martin McCarthy and to murder McCarthy’s wife because Martin’s stepbrother —whose name was Simon Walsh— had seen him how he had killed the victim of the unsolvable case and he had threatened him that if he not paid him with two thousand of pounds, he would report the crime to the police giving them the photographs he had made of it.

Then, when John rejected his offer, Simon had talked with Martin about the threat and, as John was spying on their conversations, he decided to commit the first crime and to kidnap and homicide his stepbrother to avoid suspicions and, to prevent any type of problem with the police, got the number of Martin’s visa card and he made the financial operation transferring his two thousand pounds to the Martin’s lover bank account leaving it for some days in Martin’s bank account.

“And why did you kill Martin’s wife” wished to know Peter O’Shea who was watching the interrogation in another room opaque and safely by his security if the murderer would lost his control and then he would have attacked them.

“Because she saw someone kidnapping her husband and I thought that maybe he would have seen me doing it. She requested Ansgar, the famous German private detective established in Wales, and his associate Gareth Baker for their help and when I met it, I went to her mansion of Donegal and I killed her after Martin’s death.” he answered and put his hands on the table so that Alan would be able to put him the handcuffs while the sergeant was reading him his bill of rights.

Finally, two policemen protected by the inspector and the sergeant, locked him in a cell of the police station once he handed over his badge to the officers who arrested him after the inquisition; Alan gave Gareth the information who express his gratitude to his brother for his help and he came back to Cardiff where Ansgar was waiting for him at the airport.