Page 45 of The Altar Girls

‘Like what?’

‘I don’t know, but there are houses behind the hill. If the killer brought the girl down that way, someone might have a security camera with a recording. Long shot, I know, but I’ll take what we can get at this stage.’

‘Can I finish what I was about to tell you?’ McKeown said. He was markedly subdued, and Lottie wondered what was eating him, though she could guess it had something to do with a woman.

‘Yes, do. Plus, I need something to tell me if the abduction was random or planned. Do you have anything to confirm either scenario?’

‘Not really. But I scanned the entire location from where I last saw the girls on camera. I zoomed out in a circle, placing them at the centre.’ He focused his attention on his iPad. ‘It’s more likely this was a random abduction, because no one would have known the two girls would be together.’

‘Or maybe only one of them was the intended target,’ Boyd said. ‘Though it pains me to say it, the other girl may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Kirby piped up. ‘No, Boyd, I’m siding with Sam on this one.’

‘Park the hypothesis for now,’ Lottie said, though she too was inclined to believe the events of yesterday morning were random. She squinted at McKeown’s iPad. ‘What’s in this circle you’ve marked up?’

‘A few offices and dwellings. Uniforms did a door-to-door yesterday, but we need to go back. If Lynch or Brennan were here, they could go over the statements.’

‘Well they’re not, so you may do that bit of analysis yourself. Garda Lei can help.’

‘I don’t think anyone saw anything. Like I said, it was a whiteout at that hour. I believe the girls walked through the cathedral grounds and came out where the junior boys’ school used to be located up the road.’

She tried to visualise the area. It wasn’t far from the garda station.

‘The Christian Brothers sold off part of the land and maintained the secondary school behind it. This building in front of it is a funeral home. It was originally located across town and only moved here recently. Suppose it makes sense to be close enough to the cathedral for funerals.’

‘What’s the name of this firm?’ Lottie asked.

‘Connolly’s.’

She leaned back. ‘When I spoke with Willow’s mum earlier and mentioned that she should contact an undertaker, she said she knew Connolly.’

‘Maurice Connolly,’ McKeown said.

‘Could he have snatched the girls and murdered them?’ Boyd asked.

‘His business premises is inside this Bermuda Circle. Worth a visit. Anything else, McKeown?’

‘It was the Bermuda Triangle, but no, I haven’t come across anything else within those parameters. I’ll widen the circle and see where it takes me.’

‘Good, keep at it. Boyd, you’re with me.’

33

Funeral homes by their nature made Lottie quake. Since Adam’s death six years previously, she’d tried to avoid going within an ass’s roar of them. She’d take an autopsy any day over a funeral home.

The building was as austere as it had been when it was a school. A solid concrete box. The only upgrade she could see was the widening of the main door at the side of the building and the installation of a ramp beside the steps.

‘Hope it’s more welcoming inside than out,’ Boyd said.

‘My sentiments exactly.’

The door was unlocked and Boyd ushered her inside. A red runner carpet snaked down a narrow corridor and she could see where classroom doors had been bricked up, badly plastered and painted over. It gave her a flurry of shivers.

‘Do you need a licence for this sort of business?’ she asked softly, slapping the cold from her hands while trying to hide the trembling.

‘Why are you whispering?’ Boyd replied.

‘Respect for the dead.’