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But a fate worse than her baby being stolen from her awaited in the not-too-distant future.

21

RAGMULLIN

TUESDAY

Kirby was thrilled that his girlfriend, Amy, was caring for Boyd’s son while Boyd was in Galway. She seemed to love having the boy around and ferrying him to and from school.

He was keen to get stuck into the murder investigation. His first as lead detective. The task had scared him yesterday, but today he was full of renewed energy. By the time he reached the office, though, his spirits were depleted and anxiety trickled down to his feet, slowing his pace.

Their main suspect was AWOL. Yesterday afternoon, an alert had been issued for Robert Hayes and his car. And if he wasn’t found, it was on Kirby’s head.

‘Don’t worry, it might never happen,’ Martina Brennan said as he entered the incident room.

‘No word on Hayes, then?’

‘Nope. And Edie’s son, Noel, is in the clear. His girlfriend has vouched for him for the entire weekend. McKeown will corroborate it with CCTV from where they said they went, but it seems he checks out.’

‘What have we got to go on?’

‘The tip line has been active, but I’ve read through the reports this morning and it’s mainly cranks and crackpots.’

Kirby studied the board covered with photos of Edie Butler, both alive and dead. ‘Do you think I should call the boss for advice?’

‘Youarethe boss. Be confident in your own ability. In the team’s abilities. We can work through this.’

‘You’re right. Where’s McKeown this morning?’

‘Gone back to the river where the body was found. He wants to recheck everything that was done by SOCOs yesterday.’

‘And Garda Lei?’

‘He’s at Danny’s Bar interviewing Robert’s colleagues. I was thinking of returning to the salon where Edie worked to see if I can get more from Marge Woods.’

‘Yes, do that.’

When he was alone, Kirby checked his email and discovered that the preliminary post-mortem results were in. He read quickly.

Edie Butler had been subjected to sustained scalding by boiling water. Her hands had been bound tightly at some point, and she was dead before being put in the river, according to the assistant state pathologist. Investigation was ongoing to discover what had made the indentations on her back, but it was possible they had been caused by bath taps. Alcohol was found in her bloodstream and a myriad of samples had been sent for toxicology testing. It was estimated she had died some twenty-four to thirty-six hours before her body was found. So where was she from Friday evening?

He pulled Lottie’s number up on his phone. To call or not to call? No, Martina was right. He had this. He could do it himself. Couldn’t he?

22

CONNEMARA

Tuesday morning, Lottie hadn’t heard anything from Detective Sergeant Mooney, and that irked her, but she had to accept it was not her investigation. To occupy herself, she decided to do a little sleuthing based on Bryan’s request. She studied the handwritten directions he’d given her. Sisters of Forgiveness. What type of name was that?

She drove up to the old rusted iron gates and idled the engine. The gates hung open, bent and twisted, and a gravel path, interspersed with weeds, led the way beneath a tree canopy. Keep driving, or get out and walk up?

According to Bryan, the convent had been abandoned for decades, but why hadn’t it been sold and reused as something else? A Google search had provided her with no clues, except it appeared the religious order that had run the laundry no longer existed. Interesting in itself, because did that mean there were no records to be found?

‘To hell with it.’ Deciding to drive on, she pointed her car up the weed-strewn avenue. Rounding a corner, she gasped.

A forbidding-looking building loomed before her, appearing mysteriously from behind the trees. Still intact, and from her vantage point in the car, she was certain it was uninhabited.Obviously. With its shattered windows, it looked like it had been vandalised, but the main door appeared to be chained and locked.

After parking the car, she grabbed a fleece jacket from the back seat and wrapped it around her shoulders, put her handbag on cross-body and made her way up the concrete steps to the door. Definitely locked.