FOR his eyes only. Just a few inches of glue on brown manila separated us from the Big Secret in the Big Envelope destined for the Quiet Man of Kinsealy.
Somewhere there was an echo of Ben Dunne's words to Charlie from another doorstep scene. "There, that's something for yourself."
It was the surreal climax to a spectacular week. John Lawless, solicitor to the tribunal, left Dublin Castle with the Envelope under his arm. A sticker on the outside read: "Strictly private and confidential. To be opened by the addressee only." Another label named that man as Charles J. Haughey.
Earlier, in a John le Carre moment, Ben Dunne's solicitor, Noel Smyth, had described the origins of the Document - how he put the details of his five meetings with Mr Haughey in a statement and posted them to himself, marked private and confidential.
Fifteen minutes of legal tennis followed as the lawyers decided if Mr Smyth could tell the tribunal what was said at the secret meetings. Tune in next Monday: Mr Justice McCracken went for the cliffhanger ending.
Mr Smyth's envelope with its £4.50 in stamps was dropped, unopened, into a larger envelope by the tribunal team. A covering letter was put in to explain it to Mr Haughey - just in case he hadn't heard the radio reports on what he was about to receive. And the media resisted an O.J. style chase after Mr Lawless's Mazda 323.
We had been brought to the brink twice already yesterday as Ben's sister, Margaret Heffernan, revealed details of her separate meetings with Haughey and his late accountant, Des Traynor.
The woman, who calls her baby brother Bernard, looked whippet thin as she stepped out of her Merc, with a blowdry, understated black suit and gold jewellery.
She described visiting Mr Haughey in his home twice, like the sensible sibling hunting down the missing family silver. She told him it had "come to her knowledge that Bernard gave him £1.1 million".
Mr Haughey looked completely relaxed, she said, and told her he couldn't be responsible for what her brother said. He felt young Bernard was unstable. She left feeling "really confused".
On the second visit, Mr Haughey tried to persuade her to settle the Dunnes Stores family row discreetly. She felt "wary" about talking to him about it in case he was sharing the information with Ben.
She was not like Ben, who, she said, enjoyed the idea of being able to ring up the Taoiseach anytime. Presumably to tell him to put the kettle on, he'd be there in 20 minutes. She was not a fan of Charlie's. It was because of "something between my father and Mr Haughey", she said.
At one point Margaret said she didn't wake up every morning wondering where that million went. "Some of us do," counsel for the tribunal, Denis McCullough, said wryly. And more so than ever this weekend.
