A Fool for a Client (15 page)

*     *

The television set clicked off, and the sound and picture abruptly vanished.

“And that
’
s the way to do it,” said Veronica.

“So what does that prove?” asked Padraig.

She was seated in the living room of Iraid
’
s
Derry
safe house with Padraig seated and two IRA minders standing over him.
The meeting had been arranged at the behest of Veronica, after the killing of the assassin in Central Park had made it clear that INLA was planning to kill Justine Levy, in breach of the well-established Republican code of not operating in the
United States
.
Papers found on the assassin revealed that he was close to Declan McNutt and Declan McNutt was in turn close to Padraig O
’
Shea who now sat before Veronica and her two IRA gorillas.
They had brought him with minimal force, bundling him into a car without brandishing their firearms and sitting him down without tying him up or gagging him.
But there was a hint of violence in their air, as if the mood could turn nasty in the blink of an eye if they didn
’
t get their way.

“It proves that in
America
there
’
s a right way and a wrong way to do things.”

“What do you mean?”
Padraig persisted.

Veronica sighed.
At times, Padraig could be very stupid.

“It means that in
America
, public opinion is everything.
Wars aren
’
t fought and won on battlefield
’
s any more: they
’
re fought and won on the pages of the press and in TV studios.
A few close of shots of Richard Nixon with a five O
’
clock shadow, together with a little bit of vote tampering handed a narrow election victory to Kennedy in 1960.
A single image on TV of a South Vietnamese soldier pointing a gun at the head of an unarmed Vietcong and blowing his brains out decided the outcome of the Vietnam War.
The sight of a young Kuwaiti woman crying on TV about babies ripped out of incubators by Iraqi soldiers persuaded people to support sending a huge international but mostly American military force to the
Persian Gulf
to restore the Kuwaiti Royal family, after the Iraqi invasion.
You
’
ve heard the saying
‘
betwixt the cup and the lip
’
?
Well in
America
, a few small factors can determine the course of history, and nine times out of ten those are factors that swing public opinion one way or the other.
That
’
s why we have to be careful not to avoid mistakes.”

“You
’
re a fine one to talk,” said Padraig sneeringly.
“Where were you when our boys were being killed in the fight against the British?
You weren
’
t always active in the struggle”

“No, but I always sympathized with the cause.”

“Sure,” Padraig sneered, “and you were recruited not because of your skills or courage as a fighter and not even because you
’
re such a great speaker.
It was because of your good looks.
Because you look pretty and photogenic in front of a TV camera.”

“If that
’
s intended as an insult it isn
’
t going to work, because it confirms the point I
’
m trying to make.
In a country where the ability to win an election is governed by sound bites and appearance rather than solid ideas it was deemed expedient to have the public persona of our cause represented by a well-groomed, photogenic young woman like me.
You can
’
t expect the average American to understand our cause, and nor do we want him to.
He might end up thinking that we
’
re living in the past instead of adapting to the present and building towards the future.
That
’
s the way the Americans think, with their total lack of any sense of history.”

“Well if they
’
re that shallow then why should we care what they think?”

“Because we still need the financial support of the Irish-American movement and the support of their judges against extradition.
We
’
ve eliminated most of the competition in drug smuggling with the punishment squads, but that isn
’
t enough to cover the costs of weapons, even with cheap imports from the former Soviet Bloc.
We need the deep pockets of the Irish-American community to keep us in business.
And we needed their demographic support for judges who won
’
t extradite us when we use
America
as a place of refuge.
We have that support at the moment because State judges are elected and some areas have large Irish American communities.
But if the Irish American community itself turns against us, we lose our power base.

“That
’
s why I trained and studied my ass off learning how to
‘
do press
’
as they say there.
I learned how to present brief snappy sound bites, how to heckle at potentially dangerous arguments and steer the discussion away and how to break the flow of the other person
’
s arguments by well-timed interruption.
Why do you think I accused her of condoning child molesting?
It brings out the disgust and revulsion of
Middle America
, the political mainstream that controls the floating vote.
Child molesting is always a good one because it doesn
’
t have to be proved.
It
’
s enough to make the accusation to swing the tide of public opinion against your opponent.
Accusations of child molestation come cheap, but they can be a deadly weapon when they
’
re used right.”

“Now it sounds like you
’
re boasting about character assassination,” said Padraig in a sneering tone.

“I
’
ll let you into a little secret Padraig.
I have nothing against that woman.
I even feel rather sorry for her.
But her reputation was a casualty of war, just like the toddler and the doctor were casualties of war.
Sean Murphy killed two people in the cause of the liberation of
Ireland
.
I assassinated that woman
’
s character in the pursuit of that same cause.
I didn
’
t like it, but I had to do it.
But the one thing I didn
’
t do is create
sympathy
for her.
I didn
’
t say that her son deserved to die, or that his death didn
’
t matter.
I attacked her and suggested that she had wronged her son too.
I put her on the defensive.
There
’
s no point killing a few British soldiers and civilians if we end up losing the battle for public sympathy in the country we get our major financing.”

“And what
’
s that got to do with us?” asked Padraig defiantly.

“What I
’
m trying to tell you, is that if you kill the Levy bitch now, we
’
ll look like cold-blooded murderers.
Maybe you can kill her after the trial is over when she
’
s in prison.
You can make it look like a drug-related prison killing.
We may even be able to help you with that.
We have contact with Black liberation groups in
America
and we might be able to cut a deal with them.”

“And what if she
’
s acquitted?” asked Padraig, sarcastically.

“That show
’
s how little you understand of the American scene.
She
’
s not going to be acquitted.
We already know the case against her from the Grand Jury hearings.
She left her prints all over the bottle with the poison and she has no valid defence.
The one thing she might have been counting on was the sympathy of the jury.
But in this case she
’
s lost their sympathy by being too hard.
She
’
s made it clear that she isn
’
t the poor little orphan girl, but the tough and vicious bitch who lured a man to his death with her body and then poisoned him with cold-blooded premeditation.”

“Juries in
America
often go against the evidence.
Remember those four police storm troopers who beat up that black man?”

“That was different.
In that case the judge helped the storm troopers beat the rap by transferring the case away from the place where the crime was committed to an area where a lot of cops and ex-cops lived.
He did it on the pretext that the storm troopers couldn
’
t get a fair trial in the area where they beat up the motorist.
To secure the acquittal of a guilty person in the face of conclusive evidence to the contrary all you need is the right jury.
But you have to know how to get it.
Justine Levy doesn
’
t.
That
’
s why she
’
s going to lose.
You
’
ll note that she challenged all the soft-headed, faint-hearted people off the juror.
What she
’
s got there is a convicting jury.
Only like you, she
’
s naive when it comes to playing politics is
America
.
She doesn
’
t know the rules of the game.
That
’
s why she
’
s painted herself into a corner.
That
’
s why she
’
s going to be convicted.
And when she is, then she
’
ll be at our mercy.
It
’
s very easy to kill a person in prison, you know.
It
’
s just a case of slipping the word to the right person, and maybe also some money.”

“Well assuming you
’
re right, what
’
s this to do with me?” asked Padraig, nervously.

“Let
’
s not play games Padraig,” said Veronica.
We know that you and Declan were behind the assassination attempt on the Levy girl.”

“Well what if we were?
The assassin is dead and the Levy girl is still alive, so there
’
s no more to be said.”

He tried to rise from the armchair, but the “heavy” behind him pushed him back down again.
The man was almost as strong as Declan and Padraig knew that he had no chance of leaving against this man
’
s will, which in turn meant without Veronica
’
s permission, as she was calling the shots.

“I
’
m afraid there is Padraig, because we know how you people operate.
The assassin was killed a few days ago.
That means you
’
re probably already planning to send another.
We can
’
t afford to let that happen.
So we need to know who you
’
re planning to send.”

“I don
’
t know,” said Padraig, the fear welling up inside him.

The gorilla behind him silently clamped his arms round the back of the chair, while the other started tying him up.
Now the fear was twisting inside him like a knife.

“It
’
s the truth I
’
m telling you.
You know what Declan is like!
he plays his cards so close to his chest you
’
re lucky if you can get a glimpse of them!
Why don
’
t you ask him?”

“We would,” Veronica replied.
“But we don
’
t know where he is.
Now perhaps if you
’
d like to tell us that we can bring
him
here and ask
him
these questions.”