Page 76 of The Guilty Girl

Lottie leaned forward. ‘No, that’s good. I’ll ask Lucy’s parents about it.’

‘But,’ Garda Brennan said, ‘when you look at where it was situated, it seems it was meant to be hidden. They might not know about it. I’d ask her friends … if I was you, I mean.’

Lottie wondered why the young guard was so nervous, and quickly concluded it was to do with McKeown.

‘That’s good, Martina. Ivy Jones was her best friend. Check with her. Has anyone found Lucy’s ex-boyfriend?’

Kirby said, ‘Bradley Curran. He’s in Australia. I can put a call through and ask him if Lucy had a tattoo.’

‘And find out anything else he might know to help us deconstruct Lucy’s life. So far we’ve only heard that she was a bully, prone to ridicule her peers. According to the cleaner, Sarah Robson, she was also a sad girl behind the facade. Why did Sarah think that? We need to know more about Lucy.’

‘What did the toxicology report say?’ Kirby asked. ‘Any drugs?’

‘No results yet. Tomorrow hopefully.’

‘Good luck with that,’ McKeown said. ‘It’s Sunday tomorrow.’

‘I’m well aware of the days of the week,’ Lottie snapped, though she had totally forgotten.

‘Hannah says she can’t remember a thing,’ Kirby said. ‘She might have been slipped a date rape drug. Is it too late to test for that?’

‘I requested the blood test. We all know that GHB only stays in the bloodstream for up to eight hours after being administered. If that’s what Hannah was given, it might already be flushed from her system and may not be detected. But I agree, there’s a strong possibility her drink was spiked. We have to wait and see what comes back from the lab.’

She turned to McKeown. ‘I want you to dig into all the relevant persons’ backgrounds. See if they have any skeletons knocking to get out of cupboards. Put Noel Glennon top of your list. I want to know everything about him before I bring him in for questioning again. I’m worried that he had an ulterior motive for being at a teenage party.’

Relating what Sarah Robson had said about the PE teacher, she added, ‘While you’re at it, dig into Sarah’s background. How are you getting on with the interviews with the partygoers?’ She had the words out of her mouth before she realised what she was saying. Shit and double shit.

‘Glad you asked,’ he said with a smirk.

I bet you are, Lottie thought, mentally kicking herself for giving him the opening.

‘I’ve gone through the list provided by Ivy Jones. Every last one of them was totally wasted. Their words, not mine. A few recalled the altercation between Hannah and Lucy. No one remembers anything out of the ordinary other than that snippet of excitement. I’ve had a look at the photos on their phones and social media. Found nothing to help us.’

Once she had started the conversation, she couldn’t row back. ‘Did you hear any names of those who were there but are not on Ivy’s list?’

‘A few. Most of the kids were vague, as you can imagine, based on their alcohol consumption.’

‘Not to mention their consumption of the drugs sold by Jake Flood,’ Kirby added, tapping his pocket for the cigar he normally kept there. ‘He hasn’t been seen since the party. Alerts are out for him and his mother’s car, but so far without success.’

‘I spoke with your son too, Inspector,’ McKeown said, a serious but forced expression clouding his face. ‘I can discuss it with you in private.’

Heads turned towards him, and back to Lottie. He was a bastard. He could have come to her afterwards. But she had provided him with the opening, and if she hadn’t been late, she could have spoken with him before the meeting. Time to move on.

‘Fair enough.’ She smiled pleasantly. ‘As Detective Kirby mentioned, we also have a missing boy. Fifteen-year-old Jake Flood. He was dealing drugs at the party. We need to establish why he was there. Did Lucy invite him for that purpose? And the big question, where is he now? He stole his mother’s blue Fiat Punto. Details have been circulated and alerts issued for the car and the boy. Anything we can learn about him is crucial to the investigation, based on our supposition that Hannah was drugged. Cormac O’Flaherty isn’t saying much, and what he does say I’m taking with a huge grain of salt. Did any of Lucy’s pals have information on Jake?’

McKeown shook his head. ‘I’d interviewed most of them by the time I learned the kid was missing, but the remainder were tight-lipped.’

Garda Lei spoke up. ‘Jake’s dad died last year and it seems to have set off a downward decline. I believe the boy is part of a gang of thugs who cycle around town snaring kids into a drug habit.’

‘Follow up that angle,’ Lottie said. ‘Who is in the gang? Who is their leader? Who’s pulling their strings? And in particular, what is Jake’s role in the gang and why was he at Lucy’s party? You know the drill.’

‘Sure thing. Of course. I’ll get straight to it.’ Lei flashed a wide smile and stood to leave.

She admired his awkward enthusiasm. ‘Wait until after the meeting. One interesting fact is that Albert McAllister is a boxing agent and Jake trained at a boxing club, Ragmullin Goldstars, funded by Albert. I’ll follow up at the club and see what I can discover. I want to be the first to know of any reported sightings of Jake or the car.’

‘Like the murder weapon, the car’s probably been dumped by now,’ McKeown muttered.

He was really getting to her. ‘Detective McKeown, I want a report on what you learned from the party guests. What they drank or took at the party. If they noticed anything unusual, saw anyone acting suspiciously, the time they left and their insight into what was going on in Lucy’s life. No matter how out there it may sound to you, I want it in your report.’