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‘I thought that was checked already.’

‘Ragmullin station was checked. This is in Athlone.’

‘It’s still there?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let’s go, then.’

Kirby felt a spurt of excitement as he pulled into Athlone train station car park. He sent McKeown off to get the actual CCTV footage while he inspected the grey car.

It was an old Mercedes model. Very old. The doors were locked. He peered through the window. He could not see anything incriminating on display. A yellow clamp was fitted to the wheel and a sticker was plastered to the driver’s window. The car had been there since Monday. Hayes would have a huge fine to pay. The least of his troubles, Kirby mused. Why had the man fled if he was innocent? It pointed to one conclusion in his mind. Robert Hayes had murdered Edie Butler.

He caught up with McKeown in the cramped ticket office.

‘Find anything?’ he enquired.

‘The car’s been there since Monday.’

‘Yes, it was clamped. I read the notice.’

‘I’ve just found him on the security footage,’ McKeown went on. ‘He got on the Galway train. God knows how we’ll find him in the city.’

‘We will find him. We have a nationwide alert issued for him, but now we can concentrate it on one county.’

‘Fat lot of good the alert has done so far. But you’re right. We need to focus our efforts on Galway.’

‘I’m putting it in motion,’ Kirby said, miffed that he was being told how to do his job. ‘Secure that footage and we’ll head back.’

‘We should go to Galway,’ McKeown insisted.

‘I’ve asked the boss to check if Hayes has turned up there.’

‘She’s on leave. You had no right to?—’

‘McKeown, I’m in charge, now do as I say. I’ll meet you at the car.’

Kirby stomped out of the station office and patted his pocket for a cigar.

Outside, he lit it and inhaled, then coughed. Amy would kill him if she knew he was still smoking. He had to admit there was some merit in McKeown’s suggestion. The boss had asked him to see what he could find on PULSE about this Bryan O’Shaughnessy. He had a nugget of information to share with her, but he hadn’t found it on the central database. It had come to light while investigating Edie Butler’s murder.

He would tell Superintendent Farrell that he needed to go to Galway in his search for Robert Hayes. But he had to do it in a way that meant McKeown couldn’t feel smug at it being his suggestion.

54

CONNEMARA

Brigid Kelly was slow getting to the door. She figured the nice detective woman had forgotten something, though she couldn’t see any coat or bag lying around the kitchen.

The bell clanged again.

‘Give me a minute. I’m coming.’ She made her way painfully down the tiled hallway, cursing the lifetime of hardship that had made her old before her time. Granted, Father Lyons was good to her and helped where he could. Not Father Robert before that. He’d been a mean man and she hadn’t liked him, but he was one of God’s chosen ones so she’d been inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was no longer a priest, she recalled. A chef, no less, according to the detective. He’d always been giving her orders in her kitchen, so she was not surprised at his change of profession.

She pulled back the lock and slowly opened the door.

‘Oh!’ She clamped one hand to her chest and the other to her mouth. ‘I thought it was someone else.’

‘Hello, Brigid. Bet you didn’t expect to see me here.’