Page 86 of The Altar Girls

He followed Bradley, noticing that the man’s navy suit was shiny from wear, his fair hair straggly and unwashed. It was hard to gauge his age, but he knew that he was thirty-five years old. Connie had confirmed that Bradley stayed in the hotel whenever he was working from Ragmullin. She told Boyd on the phone that she hadn’t seen him on Monday, as she was out on calls most of the day and had to be towed out of a snowdrift in the morning.

They found a corner nook and ordered two coffees. Boyd would have loved a bowl of soup, but he was here for information, not food.

‘I presume you want to talk to me about the Kiernans,’ Bradley said.

‘Actually, I was wondering why you were in Ragmullin this week.’

‘I work here from time to time. I like to check in on the Kiernan family. I believed those children were high-risk, not that anyone did anything about it. And now I hear Naomi has been murdered. Have you arrested the mother?’

‘Why would we do that?’

Bradley laughed, and it wasn’t a nice sound. ‘I know her husband attacked me, but I now suspect he was covering for his wife. And they are very religious.’

‘That’s not a crime.’

‘I know that,’ he said indignantly. ‘But it’s like they take it to the extreme. I’m of the opinion that Ruth believes in punishment even for the most trivial of transgressions. And what could a child do that would result in her mother beating her? Nothing. Those kids should have been taken from her.’

‘You didn’t succeed in that. Why not?’

‘After some high profile cases where children were wrongly taken from their families, the courts now tend to side with the parents, and that is a stumbling block for those who run child protection services. The Kiernans insisted on denying any wrongdoing while their daughter suffered abuse. Kept telling me the child was accident-prone. Give me a break.’

‘You seem highly invested in that family. Is it because you were assaulted?’

‘I take offence at that comment.’ Bradley slurped his coffee and Boyd noticed a shake in his hands. ‘The assault was the result of my persistent diligence. They didn’t like the fact that I had acquired proof of the abuse.’

‘What proof?’

‘Naomi told me about it.’

‘So all you had was the word of a child.’ Boyd knew he was baiting Bradley, but the man was so incensed he missed it.

‘No evidence? I had medical records. That child suffered terribly.’

‘Why then did no one believe you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If you had irrefutable proof, why did child services not take court action to remove the child from her abusive situation?’

Bradley slammed his cup onto the saucer, his face reddening to the tips of his ears. ‘The injuries were explained as normal childhood rough and tumble. Those parents were deemed fit to raise their children, but I was tasked with checking in on them. When I went to visit, I was assaulted.’

Boyd decided to let that argument rest for now. He’d get a warrant for the relevant information if it proved necessary.

‘When did you arrive in Ragmullin?’

‘Sunday night.’

‘Why Sunday?’

‘I saw the weather forecast and knew it would be a nightmare drive early Monday morning. And I don’t like travelling on the train. Too many people compacted together. All those germs and—’

‘Monday morning,’ Boyd interrupted the unwanted lesson, ‘what did you do?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Did you go into the office?’

‘The office?’