Page 154 of Three Widows

‘Kathleen also said she thought Amy might have been intimidated by Frankie Bardon into asking her for the money for the investment. Frankie intimated that Amy was abusive, but if Amy is to be believed, he was the abuser. But is he our murderer?’

‘You just said he couldn’t have—’

‘Dumped Owen’s body? I know.’

‘Where is he now? Do we have eyes on him?’

‘We had nothing to charge him with. No evidence to link him to any of the murders or sites where the bodies were left. God, we have nothing to charge anyone, and we’re now into the fourth day since the discovery of Jennifer’s body.’ Lottie felt exhausted thinking of all they didn’t know. ‘We need something soon. The killer is escalating.’

Her phone rang and she checked the caller ID. She glanced up at Boyd.

‘It’s Jane. Please, if there is a God in heaven, let her have some evidence for me.’

* * *

Sitting behind the old desk, Madelene Bowen faced a dilemma. Her conscience was divided. She owed it to her clients to keep their business confidential. Damien O’Loughlin, the one person she’d always trusted to help in her decision-making, was dead.

The time had come for her to make a stand. She had to decide on what was right and what was wrong. She’d been doing that for some time, but it was not straightforward. Yet she had always believed that everything she did was for the greater good, whatever that might be in a corrupted world.

Rubbing her eyes, she leaned back in her chair and tried to think of a legal way out of her dilemma. But of course she knew it would come down to morality, not legality.

She stood up, massaging her arms, bemoaning the fact that it had been necessary to skip her morning gym routine. She paced over and back on her worn carpet. She had to come up with a logical course of action. She owed Kathleen Foley that much.

95

Lottie hung up and read over her scribbled notes as Lynch and Kirby joined them.

‘Jane has completed the preliminary post-mortem on Owen Dalton’s body. And she has some evidence for us.’

‘How? He was in water,’ Kirby said.

‘His bones were broken like the other victims,’ Lottie continued without answering. ‘And the eyes were removed by a surgical implement. We can conclude that the three victims were killed by the same person.’

‘Frankie Bardon would know his way around a surgical implement,’ Kirby growled.

‘And Kathleen Foley is a retired nurse,’ Lynch said. ‘What did the lab say?’

‘The blue nylon rope used to bind the victims was standard. Readily available.’

‘What has you excited? Tell us,’ Boyd urged.

‘Jane has received some lab results. Jennifer’s dress was sent for forensic analysis. A fibre was found nestled within the hem.’

‘Okay.’

‘The piece of timber Kirby found behind Helena’s shop had blood on it.’

‘Amy’s?’ Kirby asked.

‘Yes.’

‘So it was used to break her bones,’ Boyd said. ‘What about the blood in the freezers?’

‘Not human. Helena may have stored meat there.’

‘Go on.’

‘There was an unidentified fibre caught in a splinter.’