TWO men in black with sunglasses and scarves over their mouths stood solemnly over the open coffin of the INLA chief of staff, Mr Gino Gallagher. They stared ahead unflinching, not noting anyone else in the room.
An RUC Land Rover sat outside. The coffin in the living room of Mr Gallagher's home in Glencolin Park in west Belest, was draped with a Tricolour and a Starry Plough. His beret, combat belt and gloves' lay on top.
Mr Gallagher's partner, Margaret, was under sedation. Their twin daughters, Seana and Jade, aged three, were staying with friends. They had knot been told of their father's death.
Mr Gallagher (32), feared and hated by many people in Belfast, was shot dead as he signed on at a social security office on the Falls Road on Tuesday. He was responsible for numerous killings, including that of three leading loyalists on the Shankill 18 months ago. The RUC spoke of his ruthless effectiveness.
But in his home friends remembered him differently. A woman spoke of him arriving with flowers when she had a baby. He took her out for lunch to cheer her up when one of herchildren was sick.
It was a portrayal that relatives of his victims would contest. They would remember only the pain which INLA killings brought to many families.
The local priest had been told not to bother coming - Mr Gallagher was an atheist. His coffin will leave the house today at 1 p.m. for burial in Milltown Cemetery on the Falls Road. The INLA is believed to be planning a paramilitary style funeral.