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‘He abused them. That’s what he did. The prick. Him and others. The older lads and the wardens or whatever they were called. It was rumoured the girls were passed around and they had their way with them.’

‘That’s shocking.’

‘But one fine day… I don’t know how true this is, but it was said that one of the men was attacked up at the convent. I suppose the girls had had enough.’

‘The priest was attacked?’

‘No, another lad.’

‘What happened to him?’ She balled her hands into fists, with an urge to beat the attacker of young girls herself.

‘Like I said, there were rumours, none consistent. But I heard that they threw buckets of boiling water over him and damn near boiled the skin off him. He almost died. Pity he didn’t.’ Something of a crooked smile curved one side of his mouth.

‘Holy fuck. Jesus Christ,’ Lottie said.

He flinched at the shriek of horror in her swear words. ‘Aye, it was bad. You’d think they were too weak to rebel, but those young girls were heroes.’

‘Why has this not come out before now?’

‘The question should be why did so much of the horror not come out? Very few know what really went on behind those massive walls and closed doors. All anyone knows who didn’t experience it first-hand is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.’

‘But it needs to be made public. All of it.’

He shook his head, weary now. ‘No one believed it at the time. Those of us who were eventually let out, or escaped, wanted to leave it all behind us. Like I said, I hightailed it to the United States. It wasn’t and still isn’t something anyone wants to talk about.’

She heard it then. In his tone, the nuance of his words. Those men, whoever they were, had abused more than the girls. She would let him tell her about that in his own time. And she had to find out who the others were too.

‘I’m so sorry you had to go through it, Bryan. Do you have any idea who this person was? His name?’

‘I can’t remember it, and I don’t know where he went or if he’s even alive today.’

‘But you do believe he survived that boiling water incident?’

‘I presume he did, or I would have heard it in the rumours. This documentary woman seemed to know something about the incident and I reckon she asked the wrong person the right question and that’s what got her killed.’

‘But I told you, it’s not Imelda’s body up at the cottage.’

‘Well it may not be her that’s up there, but I reckon she’s as good as dead. And if that bollox is back looking for revenge, it won’t be the last murder.’ His gaze returned to the horizon, his voice so low she had to lean in to hear him say the words she hadthought of herself only a little while ago. ‘Lottie, this might only be the start of it.’

28

‘It can’t be true, can it?’ Boyd said.

Lottie could see he was astounded when she told him Bryan’s story. They were sitting on the bed in the tiny guest room.

‘I believe him.’ She picked at her nails, wishing she could let them grow.

‘How did this Imelda know to talk to him in the first place?’

‘I didn’t want to press him too hard. That time, long ago, it was all coming back to him. Hurting and haunting him. The poor man.’

‘Lottie, I hate to say this, and I know he will soon be my brother-in-law and I’m just being hypothetical, but maybe it’s possible he should be considered… No, that’s silly.’

‘You think Bryan could have killed the woman in the bath? Do you think he killed Imelda too and hid her body? Gosh, Boyd.’

‘I was only thinking out loud, I don’t mean it. Not really.’

‘It did cross my mind,’ she said. ‘However, at the moment I see him as a victim, not a perpetrator.’