Page 131 of Three Widows

‘We still can’t figure out a motive for the murders and attempted murder,’ Martina said.

‘If we forget about Life After Loss and concentrate on the women,’ Lynch said, ‘we might find something else.’

‘Like what?’ Kirby asked wearily.

‘First let’s look at Helena McCaul.’

‘Go on.’

‘Her mother, Kathleen Foley, says she’s delusional. Kathleen fostered Amy as a child. Helena was jealous. Helena made up an imaginary husband, then invented a child and a dog. We haven’t found a marriage cert for her yet, so we could assume Kathleen is correct.’

‘Why did she pretend to be a widow?’

‘To gain access to the group?’

‘But why? She’s a herbalist. She has her own business, kept afloat by her mother. Why would she set about killing other women?’

‘To hide the murder of the woman she really wanted to kill, namely Amy.’

‘That seems a bit extreme.’

‘Maybe. But we need to look at other motives.’

‘Like what?’ Kirby was tiring of talk. He craved the opportunity to get going to find the killer and throttle them.

‘Before that, another question,’ Lynch said. ‘Why take the eyes? Jane, the pathologist, mentioned Oedipus to the boss.’

Kirby looked at her blankly, and she explained about the Greek mythology.

‘So now you think Helena killed her father or something?’

‘Don’t know what to think. Look, I collated all the intersecting characters and cross-referenced their statements. Some are just notes but three interesting characters come to the fore. Orla Keating, obviously, because her husband disappeared mysteriously a year ago, plus she has a connection to most of the women. Amy named Orla’s husband Tyler as a referee on her CV and she used to work for Bowen Solicitors, the same firm that employed Damien O’Loughlin, Jennifer’s husband. Orla knew Éilis and Helena through the group; she has the tightest links to all the women. Plus she attended SunUp yoga studio.’

‘Loads of people do yoga, but I don’t recall that Helena or Amy did.’

‘That brings me to the next character. Owen Dalton, the yoga instructor. He said he bought vitamins in Herbal Heaven.’

‘Not a crime.’ Kirby tapped his shirt pocket. He needed a cigar.

‘The next person of interest is Owen’s husband Frankie Bardon; he is top of my list after Orla. He’s the head dentist at Smile Brighter, where Jennifer worked. He’s released his client list. All the women attended his clinic and—’

‘Listen, we still haven’t a shred of evidence to tie anyone to the murders.’ Kirby felt his head going round in a perpetual circle.

‘I know that, but if we can find a likely suspect, we can work backwards with the evidence we have.’

‘What evidence?’

‘Tyler Keating’s car was in Jennifer O’Loughlin’s lock-up. Why? Who put it there? Has it been there a year? I don’t know yet. We’re still waiting to see if anything can be got from the GPS. Did you finish going through the files from the lock-up?’

‘I had one look through. Seems to be property transfers. I haven’t had time today to go over them in any more detail.’

‘It’s important, Kirby,’ Lynch said. ‘Delegate it. I phoned Bowen Solicitors to find out why Amy left.’

‘What did they have to say for themselves?’ Kirby ran his finger inside the collar of his shirt and loosened the button. He wanted to go to the hospital. He wanted news on Amy, but at the same time, the longer he heard nothing, he wasn’t hearing bad news.

‘I spoke with Madelene Bowen. She sounded distraught. She agreed to meet me.’

Kirby was at the door in a second. ‘Let’s go talk to her.’