THE stench of disinfectant, used to wash away the blood of the two young policemen gunned down by the IRA on Monday, still pollutes the air in Church Walk, Lurgan. The smell of fresh paint wafts from the terraced house which had been splattered with their blood. Bouquets of flowers lie outside the door.
However, the double murder of Constables David Johnston and Roland John Graham contaminated more than just the pavement. The entire community has been infected with fear and foreboding - a depth of dread that has not been felt since the early 1990s and some say the early 1970s.
There is pain and anger. Around the corner from the murder scene, at the RUC station where the two men were based, a couple of hundred people gathered yesterday to sign a book of condolence. Floral tributes laced the huge steel gates.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Dr Mo Mowlam; local MP, Mr David Trimble; and Craigavon Mayor, Mr, Ken Twyble, joined the signatories. They were inside the station having talks on security while outside priests and ministers from the various Lurgan churches led people in prayer.
Mr Wilson Freeburn, a local businessman who is involved in the cross-community group, said he expected several thousands to sign the book by Thursday when it would be given to the RUC.
There was no progress to be made through violence, he said. Politicians were so busy looking at all the details that they had lost their vision.
"There's two communities on this island and it's not Protestants and Catholics, it's those who want peace and those who don't, and what you are seeing today is those who want peace coming out and signing this book," said Mr Freeburn.
While almost 200 people, Catholic and Protestant, gathered for the emotional vigil, one observer said the same good people turned out every time to such events.
Afterwards, a local priest, Father Kieran McPartlan, said the parish of St Peter's was "shocked and saddened".
Lurgan and nearby Portadown have been tense for weeks as the pressure builds in the run-up to Drumcree. Tensions intensified last week following a turbulent meeting organised by the Northern Ireland Parades Commission with loyalists.
In Lurgan, loyalist anger is boiling. The polarisation, which is an innate feature in the north Armagh area, is as defined as it has ever been. Orange lilies, a symbol of loyalism, were placed amid the flowers at Lurgan RUC station. Protestants feel under threat.
On Portadown's Garvaghy Road, residents' apprehension has turned to terror. Expectations of loyalist murder gangs invading the area have been voiced and the RUC on Monday night threw a cordon around the area.
In the nationalist community in Portadown there is anger at the IRA for carrying out this attack. One man from the Garvaghy Road area, who said he was a staunch republican, was furious with the IRA. "It wasn't exactly good timing and just up the road in Lurgan too. As if things couldn't get any worse down this road. What do they think they are playing at?"
In Lurgan, where last year a Catholic taxi-driver, Mr Michael McGoldrick, was murdered by loyalists during the Drumcree crisis, the community is bracing itself for retaliation. The Loyalist Volunteer Force has significant support in north Armagh and is particularly feared in Lurgan and Portadown.
Scores of bouquets from Catholics disgusted with the murders were among those outside the local police station. One wreath, with the Sacred Heart inside, had the inscription: "We're not all bad".
On Monday evening in the nationalist Kilwilkee estate the RUC made house-to-house inquiries but came under attack from youths with stones and bottles. A local man was arrested. It is understood he is being questioned about the murders.