Page 41 of Three Widows

She struggled to twist out of her restraints, but she could not drag her eyes away from her captor as he worked in deathly silence.

Once the sheeting was close to her chair, he stopped his task. All she could think of was her children and what they would do if she died. She couldn’t die. She had to get home to them. They had no one else, only her. She had to survive this. Roman and Becky, I’m not going to let this monster take me away from you.

She stared at her abductor. Stared so hard she felt tears burn her eyelids. He held her gaze. It was as though the eyes of the devil were looking straight into her soul, their darkness draining all the colour from her life.

Then he lifted the timber high above his head.

27

Lottie found Lynch working in the incident room.

‘Maria, we should focus on this Frankie Bardon who owns Smile Brighter. Find a way of getting his phone records without a warrant.’

‘That will be difficult but I’ll see. Boss, the widows’ Facebook page is a closed group. You have to request to be admitted, but Éilis is the administrator so I’ve hit a brick wall. I’ll have to hand it over to Gary. He should get in quicker. Why do you want me to concentrate on Bardon?’

‘It’s likely he convinced Jennifer to resign, and he appears to have had no time for this widows’ group.’

‘Could he have had anything to do with Éilis Lawlor’s disappearance?’

‘Maybe. I feel he’s too good to be true. I don’t know why, but he is top of the shit pile for now.’

‘Gosh, he really rubbed you up the wrong way.’ Lynch shook her head before going back to work.

‘He’d certainly know his way around a surgical implement. Ever heard of an ashram?’

Lynch looked up, appearing put out at the constant interruptions. ‘Sure have. It’s some sort of meditation place.’

‘I’d never heard the word until today. I need to widen my horizons.’

Standing before the incident board, Lottie stared at Jennifer O’Loughlin’s death mask photograph. They were dealing with a depraved killer, but also someone who was highly organised and cunning. Someone who might go back to the scene of the crime, perhaps? She whipped up the phone from the desk and called Grainne.

‘Gerry recorded a video at the crime scene this morning, didn’t he?’ she asked without preamble

‘Yes, he did.’

‘Tell him to email it to me. Now.’ Annoyed at her misplaced anger, she added, ‘Please.’

‘Certainly.’ Grainne cut the call.

Staring at the full-length photo of Jennifer’s body, Lottie wondered aloud, ‘What’s with the big yellow dress?’

She sat at a spare desk, the computer fired up, and waited until her email pinged. She opened the link for the video the SOCO had taken that morning. She found it hard to believe it was still the same day.

Leaning forward, she pressed play. Gerry had scanned his camera over the entire area encircling the body as he initially approached.

‘Why leave her body there?’ Lottie said. ‘What significance has that piece of waste ground got for you?’ She wondered if Jennifer had been left there by design or necessity. Had the killer been in a hurry? Or had it been a carefully chosen site? If so, it was probably because it had been compromised by the previous week’s carnival traffic.

The video rolled on, but instead of concentrating on Jennifer’s body, Lottie studied the area around and beyond the victim.

She could see the glass-fronted car showrooms in the distance and the distribution centre as Gerry panned his camera around again. She studied the victim as he moved in closer. The yellow dress rippled in the morning breeze. Again she wondered if she was missing something.

* * *

The office was quiet when Boyd returned from Herbal Heaven and his chat with Helena McCaul. Kirby was at his desk. No sign of McKeown. Good.

He punched Orla Keating’s name into the system and called out to Kirby when the file appeared.

‘Hey, bud, you investigated a missing man last year. Tyler Keating. Remember that case?’