Page 3 of Hidden Daughters (Detective Lottie Parker #15)
RAGMULLIN
MONDAY
Her early-morning run before work was turning into a nightmare for Maura Carroll. She grimaced as she thundered along the narrow footpath, her feet hurting. Her runners needed to be replaced, though she was hoping to get to pay day. That meant she’d have to last until June thirtieth.
‘Damn,’ she muttered under her breath.
She paused at the end of the road, a hundred metres or so past the fruit and veg shop, one of only a few retailers in the area. A stone had somehow worked its way in through the sole to irritate her foot.
Leaning on the narrow bridge, she wiggled her foot out of the runner and shook the stone into the River Brosna below. Something caught her eye in the reeds by the riverbank. Was that hair? Her heart almost stopped as she peered over to get a better view.
‘What the…? Oh my God!’ She recoiled in horror and backed out onto the road, narrowly missing a car.
A body. No! It couldn’t be. She’d been running too hard, that was all. She was imagining it. She had to be. Still, she had to look again.
She inched forward and forced herself to gaze downwards, hand clasped to her mouth.
‘Shit, oh God. No!’
She tried to concentrate on her breathing so as not to melt into a full-blown panic attack.
What was she to do? She worked at the hospital, but her job was in administration, not as a medical professional.
She knew basic CPR, but this person was way past saving.
She failed at controlling her breaths, and they came out in quick, hysterical bursts.
‘Help! Oh my good Lord, help!’
Had she even uttered the words? She didn’t need divine intervention. She needed someone to help, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the vicinity. The solitary car that had passed her was in the distance up the road. The fruit shop was not yet open. What was she supposed to do?
Was there a correct procedure to follow? Perhaps she should go down into the reeds and check for a pulse?
No. No way was she going anywhere near the body. She’d probably slip down the bank and drown. Stupid thought. Even though the river was fast-flowing, it didn’t look too deep. No, she needed to call the emergency services.
Fumbling her phone out of the arm strap she used while running, she almost let it drop over the bridge into the water below.
It took her another minute to remember her PIN, such was the shock and fright surging through her body.
Eventually she tapped in the 999 number and gave the details. She realised she was almost screaming.
A flock of birds rose as one from the trees lining the bank on the opposite side, their crowing louder than her shrieks.
It took just six minutes for the first of the emergency services to arrive at the scene. In those waiting minutes Maura had sat on the footpath kerb, phone in hand, not knowing what to do. Sit and wait, that was all she was able to do anyhow.
The emergency response teams had to park up along the road and inch their way down the riverbank carrying their equipment. They immediately got to work.
A young garda stood in front of Maura, notebook in hand, asking a barrage of questions. Time of arrival, what she’d done, when she’d noticed the body. She was physically and mentally drained and it wasn’t yet 8.30 a.m.
‘I can’t stay here much longer,’ she said.
‘Honestly. I need to get to work. I’ve no annual leave left because I took three weeks to visit my sister in Dubai and …
’ She knew she was rambling, but her eyes were glued to the paramedics as they attended to the body in the water.
She checked the time on her phone. ‘I really need to go. I have to shower and then change into my work clothes… This is a nightmare.’ She couldn’t halt the hysteria screeching in her voice.
‘You’re thinking of work at a time like this?’ the young garda enquired.
Maura hugged her hoodie tight to her chest. ‘I can’t process this. Is it a woman that’s dead?’
‘I just need to confirm all your details. A short statement. Then you can?—’
‘Look, I gave my details to that other guard over there. Check with him. Can’t you call me later?’
‘I suppose I?—’
‘Thank you. I’m so shocked by all this, I can’t think straight.’ Maura kept her eyes averted from the reeds where the body lay partially submerged. White-suited CSI technicians, or whatever they were called, were attempting to erect a tent on the riverbank.
Once the guard allowed her to leave, she turned and ran, hobbling in her ripped running shoe, not caring about stones getting through to her foot. Life was a whole lot worse for the poor unfortunate in the river.