Got the radio tuned in and it was an old rock hour. Heard Chicago and Supertramp. Did me.

The doorbell went. Opened it to Sweeper. Rage writ large, he shouted,

“Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Another one of our people has been killed.”

“Oh, God.”

He stormed in. I closed the door, resolved to proceed with caution. He was staring at my eggs. I asked,

“Get you something?”

“Tea, please.”

He took a seat and produced a cigarette. Not a packet, just one crumpled fag. I passed him the Zippo and he said,

“Took me six months to quit.”

Then he lit up. I got him his tea, fired up a red. My eggs had congealed. He said,

“I spoiled your breakfast.”

“No worries, I hate eggs.”

I didn’t push for details, let him come to it. He said,

“Sean Nos was my nephew. I bought him his first van. Last night, he was found naked in the Fair Green; his hand was chopped off.”

“Jesus.”

“Left him to bleed to death.”

He reached down and touched an Adidas holdall. I hadn’t noticed it. He slid the bag along the floor, said,

“Open it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Open it, Mr Taylor.”

I hunkered down, took a deep breath, then pulled back the zip. Saw the bloodied hand. The awful curse of observation. Even as my stomach churned, my mind ticked off details. The nails were clean, a thick wedding band on his wedding finger, black hair near the savage incision. I stood up, the kitchen spun. Turned round, got the cold tap going, put my head under it. How long I don’t know. Then Sweeper was handing me a towel, asking,

“Need a drink?”

I nodded. Saw the bag was closed and back by the chair. Sweeper pushed a mug into my hands. Took a slug. Brandy. The last time I had that, I woke up in the mental hospital at Ballinasloe. If I could get upstairs for a moment, I’d follow it with a line of coke. Fuck, lots of lines. My stomach warmed and I felt the artificial calm spread. Sweeper shook one of my cigarettes free, lit it and put it in my mouth. I said,