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Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She checked the caller ID, then scanned the room to make sure Boyd and Grace had definitely left her alone before answering.

‘Morning, Kirby. What have you got for me?’

He was slightly breathless. Probably after puffing on a cigar.

‘Sorry, boss, I haven’t looked at that yet,’ he said. ‘I wanted to run something by you.’

‘Fire ahead.’ Anything was better than mulling over Bryan O’Shaughnessy and his irritable bride-to-be. She’d love a cigarette, but she pushed that thought away. She hadn’t smoked in ages.

‘Have you seen the news this week?’ he asked.

‘Not really. I’m out in the arsehole of nowhere, supposed to be on a break from work.’ She’d been too distracted to listen or watch the news. ‘There’s been a couple of murders around here, so it feels like a busman’s holiday, if I’m honest.’

Kirby laughed. ‘Why does that not surprise me? I’d say you’ve inveigled your way into the investigations.’

She felt a grin creep onto her face. ‘You know me too well. Unofficially, I’m giving them my tuppence worth.’

‘I’d like to tap into that tuppence worth if you don’t mind.’

‘What’s up?’

She listened while he explained about the discovery of Edie Butler’s body in the river. Her post-mortem, which indicated she’d been bound and brutally scalded. That toxicology results were being awaited.

‘Jesus, that’s almost as grotesque as the first murder here. A woman was scalded with kettles of boiling water.’

‘What the fuck is wrong with people in today’s world?’ Kirby spluttered.

‘If we could answer that question, we’d be millionaires. How can I help you?’

‘I think I just wanted to speak to someone outside of the investigation. Someone with experience. I’m not used to this running-a-team lark.’

‘Is Sam McKeown giving you grief?’

‘Of course he is. But anyhow, the guy that Edie had been seeing, he’s a chef in town here, so he is, and he seems to have disappeared.’

‘Disappeared? Was he a suspect or a witness?’

‘Not sure he’s anything yet. But why did he make a run for it? He knew the victim. He’s not on PULSE, so he hasn’t come to our attention before. The thing is, he said he originally worked in Galway and that’s where he first met Edie, years ago.’

‘Oh, and you thought I could search for him around here?’

‘No. Yes. I don’t know, boss. He might have gone back there.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘Robert Hayes.’ And then he told her more about the missing chef.

She finished the call just as Boyd returned to the kitchen.

‘Who was that?’ he asked.

‘Kirby.’

‘Is he missing you?’

‘He has a murder case. Another gruesome one, by the sound of it.’

‘Another?’