Page 28 of Three Widows

‘You’re right,’ Lottie agreed. ‘We need to match the writing with something of hers.’

‘Her colleagues should be able to do that for us,’ Boyd said. ‘Was there any bad feeling at work? What about with her boss?’

‘Frankie Bardon is a bit of an enigma to me. On the surface he appears to be a genuinely nice man. But he gave me a weird vibe. He went for a walk with her the week before she resigned. Did he force her? I had a quick chat with some of the staff on my way out, and not one had a bad thing to say about him or Jennifer.’

‘The fact that she refurbished the house a month after her husband died is a bit bizarre,’ Boyd said.

‘Grief does funny things to a person,’ Lottie said wistfully. ‘Sorry, funny is the wrong word. Destructive, more like. Self-destruction was my vice following Adam’s death. Arrange for the dental clinic staff to be formally interviewed. If Jennifer was intending to leave town, we need to know where she was planning to go.’

‘I can talk to the staff,’ McKeown said. ‘They might be more open with me, a friendly face.’

Lottie ignored his smirk. ‘We have to find her next of kin. Someone needs to be informed of her death. They might be able to give us a hint as to why a killer targeted her.’

‘Might be an opportunistic murder,’ Boyd said.

‘I don’t think so. It smacks of planning to me. What about this widows’ group?’ she said.

‘I’ll research it,’ Lynch said.

‘Do that.’ Lottie looked up as Kirby waddled in. ‘Where were you this time?’

‘Having a sneaky smoke by the smell of him,’ McKeown said, half under his breath.

Kirby threw him a death stare. ‘I needed fresh air. I’m here now.’

‘Hangover and cigars.’ McKeown raised his voice. ‘A great combination for a heart attack.’

‘That’s enough,’ Lottie said, and waited while Kirby sat. That battle was for another time. Turning to McKeown, she said, ‘We need to trace Jennifer’s movements from when she was last seen until her body was found. Someone put it there. A brazen act. I don’t like it one bit. Have you found anything on the security footage you’ve been looking at?’

‘Nothing to help us yet. The garage showrooms are on the other side of the business park, and the cameras on the warehouse distribution centre are trained on the loading bays. Confirms Graham Ward’s arrival time, though. The waste ground is a fair distance from the main road, so dashcam footage will be useless.’

‘She didn’t drop from a parachute,’ Kirby said.

Lottie groaned. ‘I need to know how the body got there. SOCOs are at Jennifer’s house now. Hopefully they’ll find something to help, but she wasn’t killed there.’

‘Do we know what type of gun was used?’

‘A nine-millimetre Glock. Most likely illegally held and impossible to trace. But dumping her body was the killer’s last act. What he did before that is conjecture until we can find clues and evidence.’

The desk phone rang. Lynch picked up. Everyone waited. When she’d finished the call, she said, ‘It appears we might have a missing woman.’

18

Lynch brought Garda Lei with her. She itched to switch on the siren to block out his incessant chatter.

‘We really should be following up with interviews now that we know the victim was Jennifer O’Loughlin,’ he said. ‘What if her killer has taken this woman too?’

‘I sincerely hope not.’ She parked outside a house with wild roses creeping up around the porch.

‘She’s not even missing forty-eight hours yet. I don’t think—’

‘I don’t care what you think. Lei. You have a lot to learn. You’re hardly here a wet week, swanning around on your BMX like a kid, and—’

‘It’s not a BMX, and I’m here since—’

‘Enough. Go on and ring the bell.’ Giving him something to do might keep him quiet for five seconds. Wrong.

‘And I don’t swan around.’ He pressed the bell. ‘It takes skill to ride the bike at the speed I have to. The cycling unit is gaining in popularity with the powers that be, so…’