This was routine procedure and one he thought necessary. The constabulary, for all its faults, still possessed men who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of local crimes and intelligence. Many of the RIC’s opponents, in fact, accused it of being nothing better than the eyes and ears of the Crown in Ireland. There was some truth to the accusation. By 9.30 that morning, O’Keefe had received official intelligence reports from two different barracks in the county. The first one – taken off the wire – concerned the murder of a known prostitute, found dead in a lane off Merchants’ Quay in Cork six weeks previously. It did not detail possible similarities with the hillside murder, but listed the name of the RIC Crimes Special Branch sergeant who had investigated, out of Tuckey Street barracks. O’Keefe had heard of the man – something of a legend in Cork city – and decided it would be useful to meet him. The second message was more immediately useful, he thought, being from the head constable in Ballincollig barracks.
