Page 87 of Hidden Daughters (Detective Lottie Parker #15)

The coffee tasted as good as it smelled. Boyd took a good gulp in an effort to remain calm now that Detective Sergeant Mooney had returned.

‘Thanks, Grace,’ Mooney said, cradling his mug. ‘You don’t know how badly I need this.’

‘Just say what you’ve come to say,’ Bryan said irritably.

‘Then you can leave us in peace,’ Grace added.

Boyd looked at all three. ‘What’s going on?’

Mooney inhaled before speaking. ‘You know Ann Wilson is dead. She was murdered last night in a similar way to the other victims. There are new detectives working with me now and they’re privately saying it’s a serial killer and that?—’

‘Bryan is not a serial killer,’ Grace said, indignation lacing each word, ‘so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.’

Mooney smiled at her use of the old adage. ‘I’m not saying any such?—’

‘And he was with me all last night.’

Boyd shook his head at Grace to keep quiet. He said to Mooney, ‘What do you want? This is your second visit today.’

‘I’m looking for Inspector Parker. She’s not at the hotel. I thought she might have come back here.’

‘Likely story,’ Bryan said.

‘You could’ve just phoned her,’ Boyd said.

‘Believe me, I’ve tried. No answer. It’s not switched off, just rings out.’

‘She may have it on silent,’ Boyd said, but his hand holding the mug shook. Lottie rarely had her phone on silent, especially when she was away from her family.

‘It’s possible.’ Mooney took a sip of his coffee. ‘I thought I’d find her here, seeing as you’re here. Saw your car arriving as I left earlier. Will you try ringing her? She might answer you quicker than she would me.’

Boyd doubted that, but he took out his phone and, though he wasn’t yet ready to talk to Lottie about their situation, tapped her number. It rang out. ‘No answer.’

‘When did any of you last see her?’ Mooney asked.

‘Yesterday,’ Grace said, ‘when I asked her to leave.’

‘I’m sure you’ve seen her since then,’ Boyd said pointedly to Mooney. ‘She seems to be very much taken with your investigation.’

‘I admit I wanted her input and experience at the beginning, but I warned her not to become involved.’

‘Did she listen to you?’ Boyd asked. ‘She sure as hell doesn’t listen to me any more.’ He blushed at his own words. He’d meant to think them, not speak them. Too late to retract.

Grace’s head bobbed furiously. ‘That’s just it. She keeps poking her nose in where it’s not wanted.’

‘It’s more my fault than anyone’s,’ Bryan said softly. ‘I asked her to find out something for me from my past. And it had nothing to do with Imelda Conroy.’

‘So what was it?’ Mooney asked.

‘That’s none of your business,’ Grace said, surprising the three men with her vehemence. ‘You need to find the killer before he comes here for Bryan.’

‘Why do you think he’d come here?’ Mooney put down his mug.

‘You keep turning up at our door. You could be leading him right to us. Did you stop to think of that?’

‘Papa?’ Sergio stood at the door. ‘I need the Wi-Fi code, please.’

‘Sure.’ Boyd followed his son and pulled the door shut behind him.

After he’d set the code on Sergio’s tablet, he ventured up to the room he’d shared with Lottie and felt a swell of sadness wash over him.

Their relationship was floundering and he wasn’t sure he could rescue it.

But hearing that Mooney was unable to get hold of her moved something in him.

He’d never be over her. He had to talk to her, and to do that he had to find her.

He tapped Kirby’s number.

‘Did you get back okay?’ Kirby asked. ‘All set for the big day tomorrow?’

It took Boyd a moment to realise his colleague and friend was talking about Grace’s wedding.

‘It’s just going to be a small affair and it’s taken a back seat with all that’s going on.’ He hesitated before continuing. ‘When did you last see Lottie?’

‘In her hotel last night. Had a nightcap and went to my own room around ten. I left early this morning. Why?’

‘She’s not answering her phone. Did she give you any idea of what she would be up to today?’

‘Not a dicky bird.’

‘What were you talking about last night then?’

‘Imelda Conroy phoned Lottie from Ann Wilson’s phone. And I heard this morning that the Wilson woman was murdered. This Imelda appears to be MIA, so my bet is that Lottie went off looking for her. Talk to Mooney.’

‘He’s here. He can’t reach Lottie either.’

‘Oh shit. Can’t he track her phone? Find her location?’

‘I’ll mention it to him. I’m worried, Kirby.’

‘She’ll be grand. And if you don’t mind me saying this, because I’ve not got the world’s best track record, you two need to talk. Rescue your relationship. Don’t let a good thing die.’

‘I’m not sure there’s much good left to rescue.’ Boyd found himself shaking his head in the empty bedroom. ‘But thanks for the advice. First, though, I need to locate her and find out what she’s up to.’

‘Good luck, and if I hear anything my end, I’ll contact you straight away.’

Boyd walked Mooney to his car.

‘What’s this about Imelda phoning Lottie from Ann Wilson’s phone?’

‘Lottie contacted me about it last night and I went to talk to her and Detective Kirby.’

‘What did Imelda say in the call?’

‘That Assumpta Feeney was key to it all.’

‘The woman who was murdered out at the holiday cottage,’ Boyd said, reminding himself. ‘And what did you do about that?’

‘I spoke with Ann Wilson last night. She was nervy and anxious. She said Imelda had made her drive around half of the county. Ann had something to say, I’m sure of it, but she didn’t want her husband to overhear anything.

She promised she’d come to HQ this morning to talk to me.

But as it turned out, she didn’t make it. Poor soul.’

‘What could she have known that got her killed?’ Boyd ran the toe of his shoe over and back on the gravel yard. ‘Did you mention Assumpta Feeney to her?’

‘No, but Ann had told Lottie about a child being pushed into a washing machine in the convent. She blamed Robert Hayes. He was a young chaplain at the time.’

‘And was Assumpta there then too?’

‘She must have been. I’m finding it hard to tie in why they are all being killed now.’

‘Someone doesn’t want what happened back then to emerge. The only person that can be is Robert Hayes. We have to find him.’

‘We?’ Mooney raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ve had enough interference from your fiancée, so you stay out of it.’

‘You asked her in on day one.’

‘True. I did.’

‘Well, you better find her. And I can help.’

‘Do you want to get me sacked?’

‘Do you want the wrath of Lottie Parker raining down on you?’ Boyd said.

‘Okay.’ Mooney capitulated, his shoulders drooping. ‘Where would you look?’

‘If Imelda said Assumpta Feeney is key to it all, that’s where I’d start. Where did she live?’

‘God, I hope I’m not making the second-biggest mistake of my career.’ He unlocked the car. ‘Hop in.’

‘And what was the first-biggest mistake?’

‘Meeting Lottie Parker.’

As they drove, Mooney took a call on his hands-free. He had earlier asked for a trace to be put on Ann Wilson’s phone, before he’d asked for the same thing on Lottie’s. Now they had a location for Ann’s phone.

‘It’s at Assumpta Feeney’s house,’ Mooney said. ‘I’ll ring it and see if she answers.’

Boyd put out a hand to stop him. ‘Wait. Think. If Imelda is involved in these murders and she still has the phone, you could be alerting her to the fact that we know where she is.’

‘How would she figure that out?’

‘Because she is most likely a techie nerd and will put two and two together.’

‘If she’s that techie, she would have dumped the phone or turned off its location.’

‘True,’ Boyd said. ‘Up to you.’

‘Fuck it, we’ll be there shortly, so I’ll ring.’ Mooney took his phone off the hands-free and handed it to Boyd. ‘I saved Ann’s number in the contacts. You call it.’

Boyd found the number, hesitated, then tapped the screen.