Page 142 of Three Widows

A look of defeat shadowed Kathleen’s expression. Or it could have been a cloud blotting out the sun outside the window. Lynch waited and hoped Lei had the sense to wait also.

‘Amy asked me to invest.’

‘Amy? Why would she come to you?’

‘You’re aware that I fostered her for a year when she was a child. I kept in contact. I couldn’t say no to her.’

Lynch was wondering about the bond with a girl who’d only been in Kathleen’s life for a short time about thirty years ago.

‘What was her connection to SunUp?’ Lei said.

‘I-I don’t know. Talk to Amy about it. I could tell she was afraid. I guessed she might have been intimidated. I don’t know, because I didn’t press her. You have to realise that I felt guilty for abandoning her. I felt I owed her. She wasn’t the problem in this house. Helena was. I couldn’t turf out my own daughter, so Amy had to go back into care.’

‘Did she hold that over you by playing the guilt card?’ Lynch asked.

Kathleen bit her lip silently.

Lynch felt the woman had drawn a line under it. ‘Did you ask for your money back?’

Kathleen sighed heavily ‘I did.’

‘And what answer did you get?’

‘Owen said I’d get it when he was good and ready.’

‘How did you take that?’

Her lips flatlined. She stood and ran her finger along the mahogany mantelpiece.

‘I don’t blame Owen, Detective. It was Tyler Keating who made the mess. He’s the one to blame for all this. I’m sure of it.’

Lynch wondered if she had heard right. ‘What has Keating got to do with anything?’

‘He was a swindler. He knew Owen from their college days. I’d say he made off with money belonging to Owen. That’s why he disappeared and no one can find him.’

‘A thorough investigation was carried out at the time,’ Lynch said, though she now wondered whether Kirby had fucked up.

‘Obviously it wasn’t thorough enough or you’d have learned what type of man he was.’

‘We believe his car was hidden near here for some time. Can you explain that?’

Kathleen’s bottom lip dropped and her eyes widened. ‘Where did you get that information? It’s totally untrue, I might add.’

‘I’m confident it’s correct.’

‘Well, I didn’t hide any car. Feel free to look around outside.’

‘We know where it is now. Did you move it four weeks ago?’

Kathleen’s eyebrows linked in a thin line. ‘Detective, Tyler Keating and his car have nothing to do with me.’

‘Why did you move the car?’

‘Like I said, it has—’

‘Nothing to do with you. Right.’ Lei folded his arms.

Lynch changed direction. ‘Kathleen, how did you know Jennifer O’Loughlin?’