Page 133 of Three Widows

‘You knew Jennifer O’Loughlin?’

‘Yes, of course. Damien was an excellent solicitor and was a huge loss to our business. Poor Jennifer. She was devastated when he died.’

‘Did you call on her at all?’

‘At the beginning, I called a couple of times. She came to the office and cleared out her husband’s personal items. I hadn’t seen her in months.’

‘What did she take from the office?’

Madelene looked from one to the other, an eyebrow raised. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Do you know exactly what she removed?’

‘I didn’t oversee what she did. Damien had some photographs and things like that, so I imagine she took those.’

‘What about copies of files?’

‘Dear God, no. Why would she? She had nothing to do with my firm. She was a dental nurse, for heaven’s sake.’

Kirby debated telling Madelene about the boxes he’d found in the lock-up, but Lynch kicked him on the ankle, so he stayed quiet.

‘Do you know any of Jennifer or Damien’s relatives?’

‘Damien’s mother and brother live in Donegal. I don’t know about Jennifer.’

‘And Éilis Lawlor, do you know her?’

‘No. I’m sorry.’

‘What about Helena McCaul?’

A blink of the eyes, before she said, ‘We did some work for her mother.’

‘And Orla Keating?’

He knew immediately that Madelene recognised the name. But hadn’t it been all over the media when Tyler went missing?

‘I can’t comment, as I believe she and her husband are our clients.’

‘Tyler Keating has been missing a year. Amy named him as a referee on her CV.’

‘Is there a question there, Detective?’

‘I’m thinking aloud now, Madelene, and I’m thinking maybe Damien O’Loughlin was working on something for Tyler Keating and Amy met him here.’

‘Still not a question.’

‘Why would Amy list Tyler Keating for a reference?’

Madeline remained silent.

‘That was a question,’ he added, sounding more peevish than he intended. But fuck it, Amy had almost died – could yet die – and this woman had information that could be crucial to their investigations.

‘Perhaps she knew him outside of the firm. Why does it matter, Detective?’

‘It matters to me, because—’

He stopped as Lynch dug her foot down on top of his to shut him up.