Page 39 of Hidden Daughters (Detective Lottie Parker #15)

Mooney went outside and Lottie caught Boyd shaking his head.

‘What?’ she said.

‘What’s what?’ He folded his arms.

‘You. Standing there as if you don’t care about anything.’

‘Maybe I might care if I knew what the hell was going on.’ He sighed, unfolded his arms, dragged a chair out from the table and sat. ‘Do you care enough to explain?’

‘I will explain, but not until Mooney’s gone. I’ll bring the woman in here. Will you ask Bryan and Grace if she can stay the night? I’ve a feeling it might be Imelda Conroy.’

‘Don’t, Lottie. Don’t get involved. You’ll ruin everything for Grace.’

Before she could reply, the door opened and Mooney loped in. ‘Are you having me on?’

‘Huh?’ Confusion knitted her brow, and she could feel a permanent furrow taking root there.

‘There’s no one in the car. Did she even exist in the first place?’

Her heart dipped in her chest. She ran out past Mooney.

He was right. The car was empty.

She was surrounded by vast fields cut by stone walls, the seashore at the edge of the horizon.

No houses as far as the eye could see. Sheep grazed nonchalantly, and she realised the bleakness of this existence.

Barren landscape, sheep and the roar of the ocean.

Though human life was close, you couldn’t see it, feel it or hear it.

She’d lose her mind. Like she’d lost the woman.

The barn loomed to the side of the yard. Maybe she had taken refuge in there. Lottie raced over and pulled back the door. It shifted noisily on its rusted wheels.

She yelled, ‘Come out…’ She didn’t even know the woman’s name. ‘We have to talk.’

Rustling came from the hay. Not loud enough for an adult. Probably rats. She shivered violently. Her phobia froze her blood, and she turned tail and ran. Mooney could look in there; no way in hell would she venture any further inside.

As she returned to the farmhouse, she saw Mooney and Boyd standing in the yard.

‘I’m taking your car for a forensic examination,’ Mooney said. ‘We might get her fingerprints or DNA from it. Maybe link them to the kettle in the cottage or to something on Fox’s body or in his caravan.’

‘I need my car.’

‘I’m sure you can use your brother-in-law’s.’

‘He’s not my brother-in-law,’ she said, sounding pettish, and this made her cringe. She’d have to use Boyd’s car, because no way did she want to be isolated in this desolate place. Not with a murderer stalking around the vicinity.

‘He’s not mine yet either,’ Boyd said. ‘Might never be, by the look on Grace’s face.’

Lottie turned to see Boyd’s sister getting out of a car, slamming the door and waving off the driver.

‘Thanks a bunch, Lottie,’ she said, marching in by the three of them. She banged the door behind her.

‘I’ll talk to her,’ Lottie said, making to follow.

‘You’ll be coming with me.’ Mooney grabbed her by the elbow, but dropped his hand when her eyes bored into his. ‘You have to make a statement,’ he added. ‘I need a description of this mystery woman.’

‘I can do that from here.’ She was adamant.

‘Do I have to arrest you?’ He leaned his head to one side and scratched his beard.

She figured he’d love to do just that. She scrubbed her shoe on the ground, dislodging the grit beneath it.

Maybe she deserved his scorn, but she couldn’t rid her mind of the abject terror she’d seen in the woman’s eyes earlier.

She had promised her safety, then she’d lost her.

The only thing she was guilty of was irresponsibility.

‘I don’t think she killed anyone,’ she said quietly. ‘She was terrified.’

‘Terrified she’d be arrested for murder,’ Mooney scoffed.

‘No, it wasn’t that.’ She shook her head distractedly. ‘Something or someone made her unbelievably scared. It’s possible she might have seen who killed Mickey Fox.’

‘Or she killed the old man herself.’ Mooney voiced her worst fear. He continued, ‘Are you coming with me, or do I have to read you your rights?’

She put out her hand to Boyd. For reassurance rather than comfort. He hesitated, and she thought she might cry. But then he relented and gave her a quick hug.

‘Just cooperate, Lottie,’ he whispered in her ear.

‘I will,’ she muttered. ‘As soon as I figure out what Mooney knows that he’s not telling me.’

‘Not your investigation.’ Boyd shook his head, warning her.

‘I know, I know. But I’m involved on the other side now. You and Bryan carry out a decent search of the area. She’s out there somewhere. I’m worried for her safety.’

‘And I worry for yours. Be careful.’

‘I will.’

She followed Mooney to his car.

Mooney drove in silence. Lottie hated silence. Hated his silence anyhow.

‘She can’t have gone far,’ she said, needing to hear a sound other than the roar of the car engine. ‘She’s on foot. We should have searched more carefully. That’s if she’s just fled and hasn’t been abducted.’

He said nothing.

‘Come on. Matt?’

‘Detective Sergeant Mooney to you. And for your information, I’ve asked my people to search the locale. Where’s your brother-in-law? Bryan whatshisname’

‘O’Shaughnessy.’

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove. ‘Where do you think he is?’

‘How would I know? I’ve hardly been in the house since I arrived.’ She thought about it for a moment. ‘He’s probably out tending his sheep.’

‘You make him sound like a fucking shepherd.’

‘Isn’t that what you call a person who tends sheep?’ She was well aware that he wasn’t amused.

‘I’ve done a bit of digging on your Mr O’Shaughnessy.’

‘He’s not my anything.’

‘It was you who came to me with his cock-and-bull story.’

‘Why do you call it that?’

He shook his head. No way was he telling her anything more, which made her wonder what exactly he had found out about Bryan.

‘Do you think he’s hiding this elusive woman?’ she asked tentatively, not really wanting to hear his affirmation.

‘What I think doesn’t matter. But what I know is this. You lost her, that’s if she even exists, and Mr O’Shaughnessy is seemingly nowhere to be found.’

‘We weren’t looking for him, were we?’

‘Don’t be so pedantic. With all the activity around his house, wouldn’t you think he’d come running out of the shadows to see what was going on?’

She mulled that over. ‘Maybe he did.’

‘What do you mean?’ Even with his eyes on the road, she still had the uneasy sensation that he was staring at her.

‘Maybe he came up to the house and…’

‘Jesus. You think he took her? The woman?’

‘At this stage,’ she said, ‘I honestly don’t know what to think.’