She feels totally out on a limb with this, even more so than when she put the same question to Terry Stack.
‘Gina,’ Norton then says, indulgently, not quite smiling, ‘maybe that’s the image you have of the building trade from TV and movies, but let me tell you, the reality is quite different. These days it’s a very regulated industry. The contractors I use are crucified with regulations and directives and what have you.’
Gina nods along.
‘So really,’ he goes on, ‘I think what you’re suggesting is…’ He decides to leave it unsaid.
Gina continues nodding.
‘Look,’ Norton then says, ‘I know it’s hard to accept, but this was a road accident. Noel was tired, he was stressed out. You said so yourself.’ He pauses. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Stressed out about work, you said.’
‘Yes.’
Norton stares at Gina. Is he waiting for her to expand on this? He seems to be.
‘Well,’ she says eventually, ‘there was that problem, that… situation, some engineering thing he said… he didn’t go into it, but -’
‘Yes, yes.’ Norton looks down at the floor. ‘That was sorted out. It was just a minor hitch, one of many along the way, believe me.’
‘Anyway,’ Gina goes on, ‘what’s really bugging me is this idea that he was drunk. The Noel I knew wouldn’t drive -’
Norton looks up again. ‘Listen Gina,’ he says quite firmly, ‘all I know is – and this may not be easy to accept either – all I know is… I was with him in town earlier, and he did have a couple of drinks.’
‘Yeah, but -’
‘And the police have said that he was over the limit.’
‘But -’
She stops there. What’s the point? Noel wasn’t even remotely drunk when she spoke to him outside Catherine’s house. So what does she do now? Call Norton a liar? Or a fool? Call the police fools?
After a moment, another question occurs to her. ‘When Noel left you, he went out to my sister’s house, yeah?’
Norton nods.
‘But then he went back into town. He told me he had to pick up something. Do you have any idea where he might have gone… or who he might have seen?’
Norton shakes his head. ‘No. I’m sorry. I have no idea.’
Gina’s eyes plead for more.
‘I am sorry,’ he says, ‘really. But I’m afraid something you can’t discount, Gina, is the possibility that wherever Noel did go -’
‘- that he had more to drink there?’
‘Yes,’ Norton says, and shrugs.
Stung by this, Gina doesn’t know what to say next. Her stomach is churning. Also, in her skirt and jacket she’s not exactly dressed for the occasion – it’s windy up here and very cold. Not about to give in, though, she points at the far end of Level 48 and says, ‘Can we take a closer look?’
‘Of course.’
They walk the length of this huge space in silence. As they get nearer to the south-facing end, the view rises up to meet them. They stop in front of the protective barrier, with about a yard to spare, which is plenty, because spread out below them – half framed by the crane’s tower and jib sections – is the whole of Dublin city. It is spectacular, and Gina begins to feel a little overwhelmed. Visible everywhere are landmark buildings, church spires, parks, squares, housing estates – with the river, like a deep, irregular gash, dividing it all in two.
She looks for her apartment building along the quays. She then locates where Dolanstown should be, and stares at it in amazement. Unreal, dreamlike, this is an entirely new perspective on where she grew up.
‘It’s incredible,’ she says.
‘Yes, it is. But it’s only the start, you know.’
Gina turns to look at him. ‘The start? What is?’
‘This,’ Norton says, ‘Richmond Plaza. I see it as the first in a cluster of riverfront skyscrapers.’ He raises his arm in a grand gesture to indicate the entire docklands area. ‘I see all of this being developed. I see it becoming a sort of new Hong Kong on Europe’s Atlantic rim.’
Gina nods. Her expression is neutral.
‘This downturn won’t last,’ he goes on. ‘It can’t. There’s too much left to do. And besides, development like this will stimulate a new wave of inward investment from the US. So we can do it. I mean, look at what they did in Shanghai ten years ago. It was phenomenal.’ He pauses, as something seems to occur to him. Then he says, ‘Of course, Noel was there, he saw it, back in the late nineties -’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, on trade delegations, with Larry Bolger… it was in some sort of advisory capacity, I think. Anyway, he said that across from the Bund you used to see only fields and maybe a warehouse or two. Then suddenly it was all bamboo scaffolding and green safety nets. Then before you knew it, wham, they had a skyline.’
Gina remembers these trips now, but only vaguely – because what would she have been doing at the time? Studying for her diploma? Starting her first job? Glued to a computer terminal in some windowless office? She didn’t see Noel very often back then.
‘Or look at Dubai,’ Norton is saying. ‘There’s no reason why we can’t do that in this country, if we hold our nerve, no reason at all. And Noel saw these possibilities too, you know. It’s just…’ He pauses, shaking his head in what seems to be exasperation. ‘It’s just that a grand-scale project like this requires more than vision. It requires, if you’ll excuse the expression, balls of steel -’
Gina gets the feeling he’s no longer talking about her brother.
‘- because you can’t let anything get in your way, you can’t let anyone get in your way…’
Norton is interrupted here by a sudden burst of baroque concerto music. Gina is startled and it takes her a moment to realise that it’s a mobile ringtone.
She watches as Norton pulls his phone out and checks the incoming number on the display.
‘Sorry,’ he says, holding up a finger. ‘I’ll… just a moment.’ He turns away and cuts the Vivaldi off. ‘Larry, what is it?’
Gina turns in the opposite direction. She takes a couple of steps closer to the protective barrier – which hardly comes up to her waist – and looks down. Far below she can see tiny cars streaming along the quays.
Behind her, she can hear Norton talking.
To Larry Bolger?
‘… yeah the Wilson, it’s up on Madison Avenue, in the low seventies I think…’
Gina was surprised to find out the other night that Larry Bolger and her brother knew each other so well. She is surprised to find out today that they went on trade delegations together to Shanghai.
‘… and remember he’s an old man, he’s been around a long time…’
Gina is beginning to realise just how many things there are about Noel that she doesn’t know.
‘… look, meet him tomorrow and we’ll talk afterwards, OK?’
She turns around. Norton is putting his phone away.
‘Who was that?’ she says. ‘Larry Bolger?’
Norton looks surprised. ‘Yes, it was, as a matter of fact.’
‘Oh.’
‘He’s at the airport.’
‘I see.’
‘Heading off to the States, on a junket. It’s another one of those trade delegations, actually.’
Gina nods. ‘So he and Noel knew each other pretty well?’
‘They did, yes.’
‘When I spoke to him on Thursday, he said they played poker together. Is that right?’
‘Yeah, Noel ran rings around him, I’m afraid. Took him to the cleaners. Poor Larry’s probably going to be the next taoiseach and the man is an alcoholic and a compulsive gambler. God help us all.’ He stops suddenly and stares at Gina. ‘I didn’t say that… you didn’t hear that from me.’