Page 162 of The Guilty Girl

She sounded a little self-pitying, and Lottie couldn’t blame her. She’d had a lot to take in over the last half-hour.

‘Rita, I need you to convince Ivy to be honest with us. Keep them at home while I make further enquiries. Can you do that?’

The woman shook her head. ‘I can’t promise anything. They rule the roost here. I lose myself in my sports to escape the torment. I’m sorry.’

‘I’ll stay, Mum,’ Oscar said. ‘I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.’

Lottie didn’t believe him for a minute. He was used to doing whatever he liked, and if Ivy was correct, he took drugs himself. Even though she’d taken his phone, she knew he would be putting out warnings before they had the car down the drive.

‘Detective Lynch, request two or three officers to guard this house and the occupants. A precaution, in case your family is in danger, Rita.’

‘Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Do you think we might be?’

‘Anything is possible. Oscar, I have your phone and I don’t want you using anyone else’s or a computer to make contact. You hear me?’

‘No problem.’

She still didn’t believe him. He would be arrested for his part in the drug dealing, but she had other fish to hook and reel in, so she had no option but to move on.

74

Everyone at the station was still stunned by the death of ten-year-old Sharon Flood, and Lottie couldn’t get the image of a broken Liz out of her mind. She put Sharon’s laceless runner on her desk to remind her of the senselessness of the little girl’s death. The only way to stay sane was to nail the bastard who’d killed her. She owed it to Liz to find out why her two children had been brutally murdered, and who had done it.

Sam McKeown burst into her office. ‘Those background checks you asked for. I made a start.’ He spread his shoulders, trying to make himself the dominant one in the room. Well, he could fuck right off. Lottie planted her hands on the desk and leaned towards him.

‘Tell me you’ve found the McAllisters and Terry Starr.’

‘So far there’s nothing to indicate where they are. The cameras around town are shite, as you know, but we’re on it. I started the background checks. Sarah Robson, the woman who found Lucy’s body, is interesting. I read through the report of your interview with her. I then talked to the school principal, and her version doesn’t match with some of the things Sarah told you.’

Sitting down, Lottie had a feeling she knew what was coming. ‘Is this to do with why she left the school?’

‘Exactly.’

‘You’d better tell me.’

Sarah Robson opened the door to Lottie and Garda Brennan.

The cat scampered from the back of the couch to the window ledge when they sat down.

‘I find it hard to believe Lucy is dead.’ Sarah had washed her hair since Lottie had last seen her, and it shone copper in the light coming through the small window. The band holding back her fringe revealed a gaunt face with black rings circling her eyes. Her jeans looked too big on her tiny frame and her pale pink sweater accentuated the greyness of her skin.

Lottie dived in. ‘What was your role in her murder, Sarah?’

‘How can you think I had anything to do with it?’

‘The fact is, you lied when I interviewed you yesterday. When I asked myself why you would do that, I suspected you were hiding something from me. That something must be your involvement in Lucy’s murder. And Jake Flood’s, for that matter.’

The woman’s throat wobbled as she swallowed half a dozen times before speaking.

‘Who is Jake Flood?’

‘Doesn’t wash with me, Sarah,’ Lottie said.

‘I don’t know him. What do you want from me?’

‘The truth.’

Sarah kept shaking her head.