Page 152
Story: Hidden Daughters
She had to keep him talking. She needed Bryan to move away. But he seemed to be stuck in a stupefied state. A knot of doubt twisted in her gut. Had Mooney got this all wrong?
‘Then I am sorry for your loss,’ she said.
‘You don’t sound like you mean it.’
‘I do. I met and talked with Ann. She was a lovely woman, but she was damaged.’
‘What do you mean? There was nothing wrong with her.’
‘You spent a lifetime controlling her,’ Lottie said, ‘but was she really the best person for you by your side going forward?’ She hated belittling Ann, but she had to poke for a reaction.
‘You are out of line,’ Wilson said, looking around. Was he searching for a way out of the conversation or a way out of the yard?
Just you wait and see how far out of line I can go, she thought.
‘That may be so,’ she said, ‘but I think you are obsessed with your image. And maybe Ann was not the most suitable person to be a parliamentarian’s wife. She was beautiful, but she was nothing more than a dressmaker. Wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny at Dublin Castle tea parties, would she?’
Bryan, move, she silently implored, but he kept his head lowered, immobile.
‘I will have you dismissed from the force.’ Wilson’s face turned puce. Not a pretty sight. It matched his stupid cravat.
‘Others before you have tried,’ she said with half a laugh, ‘so I wish you luck with that.’
This incensed him. She could see him working to keep his temper in check. The air seemed to drop low around them, shrouding them from reality.
‘Are you purposely trying to get fired?’ he said.
‘No, I’m trying to help you own up to your actions.’
‘Are you mad?’ he spluttered. ‘You are a spiteful bitch, that’s what you are. You can’t bear to see anyone do well for themselves.’
‘Mr Wilson, I don’t know you, so I have no personal grudge against you. But I don’t like people who get others blamed for their actions.’ Time to end this charade. ‘Do you know a man called Robert Hayes?’
His face paled. Good. She appeared to have wrong-footed him. His confused expression was fleeting before he righted it.
‘I’ve heard of him. He was a local priest out Moycullen way,’ he said. ‘Got kicked out of the clergy. Rumour had it that he interfered with children.’
‘I can’t say if that was true or not, but I’m referring to incidents much further back. The Sisters of Forgiveness,’ she said. ‘The convent laundry. Knockraw industrial school. Now do you know Robert Hayes?’
He leaned his head to one side, appraised her with a quizzical gleam in his eye. ‘I really think you have lost the plot.’
His grip on Bryan must have loosened, because the farmer suddenly twisted and with an extended arm landed a punch to the councillor’s stomach. Wilson bent over in two before regaining his equilibrium. Bryan caught hold of his shirt collar and tugged him backwards. The shirt ripped, came away in his hand. Wilson turned around, sparring with his fists, and knocked Bryan to the ground.
Lottie stood open-mouthed, staring at the burn scars streaking across the skin on the councillor’s back. Bad burns. Deep and old. Decades old.
She shook herself out of her stupor and leaped forward, grappling with him, but she had no cuffs to restrain him, no weapon to impair him. He flung her off, then turned, spittle dripping from his lips.
‘You are one fucking bitch,’ he snarled, curving his hand into a fist, ready to make contact with her face.
She heard footsteps rush around the side of the house as she prepared to fend him off.
Mooney grabbed Wilson’s arm and twisted it up his back.
‘I’ve been dying to do this for a long, long time,Councillor.You are under arrest for the murders of Assumpta Feeney, Mickey Fox, Brigid Kelly and Ann Wilson.’
87
Grace dressed Bryan’s head wound with a handful of plasters while Lottie made a fresh pot of tea. Boyd stayed with Sergio in the living room. Wilson had been taken away in a squad car. Mooney remained to tell her some of what he had read in Assumpta’s notebooks. When she had the teapot and cups on the table, Grace took over and Lottie and Mooney went outside.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152 (Reading here)
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164