‘Point out who these friends are,’ said O’Gara, grimly, ‘and I’ll make sure they don’t interfere. I’m not having Moses attacked from behind. Anything else he should know, Dermot?’
‘Johnson spits and bites.’
‘I’ve met plenty who’ve done both,’ said Dagg, ‘so I’m used to it.’
‘And there’s no holds barred so he’ll try to wrestle you to the ground and use his feet on you. Watch out for his heavy boots.’
‘They’ll slow him down.’
‘Moses will dance rings round him,’ said O’Gara.
‘Johnson’ll come charging out at the bell,’ predicted Fallon, ‘and try to finish you off very quickly because he’ll soon be short of breath. Tire him out by moving him around then go in and finish him off.’
‘Thanks for the advice,’ said Dagg.
‘One last thing – we go to the fight with weapons. If things get out of control, we’ll have trouble. I’ll bring daggers and shillelaghs for both of you.’
‘We couldn’t do this without you, Dermot.’
‘No,’ said Dagg, ‘we owe you thanks.’
Fallon grinned. ‘I’m the one who should be thanking you. Moses. I’ll not only get a share of the prize money, there’ll be winnings to collect from the wagers I place. The pair of you will have more than enough money to pay for your passage back to America.’
‘We’re not going until we’ve finished our business here.’
‘That’s right,’ said O’Gara, ‘our friends are still locked up in Dartmoor. We want justice for them and for us. And you should remember that you want justice as well, Dermot. You have to collect a huge debt from someone.’
‘Oh, I haven’t forgotten Donal Kearney,’ Fallon promised him. ‘I’ve a couple of lads keeping an eye on him for me. I’m just letting him stew a little first.’
Kearney had been so badly beaten that he was unable to work. Tended by his wife, he lay on the bed with his hands held against his cracked ribs. Having cleaned the blood from his face, his wife gently dabbed at his bruises with a wet cloth then mopped his brow. His two black eyes made him look as if he’d just cleaned a sooty chimney. He was more beleaguered than ever. His neighbours let him know what they felt about him by banging on the door as they went past or by shouting abuse at him. Out of concern for their safety, he’d forbidden his family to venture out. Kearney scrabbled around for a means of escape from his ordeal. Indelibly marked as a police informer, he could not move freely around the tenement any more. His one hope lay in getting someone on his side that might keep the others away from him.
Groaning at the effort, he got up from his bed and rose to his feet. His wife begged him to stay with them but Kearney was purposeful. Letting himself out of the room, he collected some cruel jibes from children playing on the stairs. He tried to ignore their ridicule and went to some rooms along the corridor, slapping the door with the flat of his hand because his knuckles were too raw to use. When the door opened a few inches, the face of Mary Fallon came into view.
‘What do you want?’ she asked in surprise.
‘I just want someone to listen.’
‘Dermot said that I wasn’t to speak to you.’
‘I want you to take a message to him, Mrs Fallon. It’s very urgent. Tell him that it wasn’t me who told the Runners that you were hiding fugitives here. I’d never lift a finger to help them. Everyone knows that. I despise the Runners. They’re like vermin to me.’
She tried to close the door. ‘I have to go, Mr Kearney.’
‘No, no,’ he said, putting a foot in the gap to keep the door open. ‘All I ask is that you give me a fair hearing.’
‘My husband’s made up his mind. He’ll never change it.’
‘He might if you tell him the truth. Explain to him that it was someone else who was behind that raid. I was miles away and I can prove it.’
‘Go away, please. It’s dangerous for you to be seen here.’
‘Don’t you turn your back on me as well.’
Mary was resolute. ‘It’s what you deserve, Mr Kearney.’
‘Oh, it is, is it?’ he asked, letting his anger take over. ‘Very well, if you won’t help me then I won’t help you.’
She was disturbed. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘You’ll soon see.’
Determined to get his own back on the Fallon family, he lumbered towards the staircase, intent on telling Micah Yeomans where they could find Fallon’s wife and force her to disclose the whereabouts of O’Gara, Dagg and her husband. He didn’t realise that Mary Fallon didn’t actually know where the men were hiding. In his rage, he simply wanted Fallon, the man most likely to kill him, to be arrested and locked up. Kearney and his family could then flee the tenement and live elsewhere.