It’s 12 days since Lyra McKee’s murder by the New IRA and I have no doubt that people who know the killer or have strong evidence of who he is are deliberately withholding vital information from the authorities.
I dealt with the murder last week when I suggested the local New IRA in the Creggan had gone into hiding, afraid to face their own community when they cancelled an illegal Easter commemoration march.
I make no apology for writing about it again in the hope that I might persuade somebody in Derry to realise that this is not a killing that can be justified in any way by falling back on the old reliable that it is traitorous for a nationalist or republican to assist the Crown Forces.
That hoary shade of green does not have any place in 21st century Ireland.
The people of Derry made that quite clear when they defaced posters of outrageous claims by a handful of republican dissidents that they are the defenders of Free Derry.
Politicians in Northern Ireland refuse to co-operate - despite pleas after Lyra McKee's murder
The message in blood red hand-prints placed on the wall of the building that houses Saoradh and other dissident groups is the most comprehensible interpretation of how Derry people were appalled by the murder of Lyra.
Indeed, all Ireland and its British neighbour were stunned as evidenced by the representation at Lyra’s Belfast funeral where DUP and Sinn Fein leaders sat side by side in the same group of pews as President Michael D. Higgins, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British premier Theresa May.
So why - given the international outrage and shame within the local community - has nobody yet been charged with murder?
Investigators have no doubt that quite a number of people know the name of the guy who pulled the trigger and the names of who helped him recover the spent bullet cartridges.
They acknowledge that an unusual number from within a small nationalist enclave – more than 140 – were so horrified that they came forward with help for the investigation.
Image of New IRA thug who police believe murdered journalist Lyra McKee in Derry
They also recognise others who have evidence are too frightened to help so the man in charge of the probe, Det Supt Jason Murphy, has attempted to assure them their protection is his first consideration.
The word on the grapevine is that an 18-year-old shot Lyra. Word also is that he was recruited into the new IRA in the past two years and – I’m partly guessing now – this was likely his first act of terror.
A bullet he aimed at a police line hit Lyra, one of a number of civilians nearby. He acted with callous stupidity. Firstly, he was intent on killing a police officer doing his best to preserve a tenuous peace process in Northern Ireland. Secondly, to fire a gun in an area full of civilians is brainless.
Given the widespread reaction to what’s suspected to be his first major terrorist act, the gunman is almost certainly dreading that eventually he will be surrendered to justice by his own community.
He’s probably already on the run across the border in Co Donegal.
No matter where he runs, he can be assured there are far fewer safe houses to hide in than there were when Martin McGuinness ran the IRA in his city.
McGuinness and his IRA eventually agreed peace with the Unionist community and support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Dissidents of the policies supported by McGuinness were among the people who turned Lyra’s killer away from the innocence of carefree teenage interests.
One brave neighbour, or even a courageous dissident who re-thinks his or her commitment to a senseless cause, could bring Lyra’s killer to justice and rescue peace in Ireland.
