Page 63 of Three Widows

‘Breast cancer,’ she said. ‘She told me she had a mastectomy.’

‘It could have left a scar,’ Lottie said, half to herself as she turned towards Boyd. He acknowledged this information with a slight nod.

‘You’ve found her, haven’t you?’ Helena looked from one to the other, her face paling.

‘We found the body of a female, but we haven’t been able to identify her.’ Lottie wished they’d been able to turn the body, but Grainne had insisted on waiting for the pathologist. However, she had little doubt now. Éilis Lawlor was dead.

‘Oh my God,’ Helena cried. ‘That’s terrible.’

‘We need a formal identification.’

‘Who can do that? Surely not her kids… Please don’t ask them to look at a body that might or might not be their mother.’ There was horror on Helena’s face. It was as clear as if she’d got a Sharpie marker and written it in words.

‘Don’t worry, we’re not that callous. Has Éilis any family?’

‘A sister. She lives in Dubai. A teacher, I think. Can’t even remember her name.’

‘Right. Do you think you would be able to do the identification?’

‘What? Look at a body that could be my friend? No! No way. Can’t you use a photograph? Or… Oh no! Is the body so bad that you can’t identify her?’ Helena looked around wildly, as if there was something in her little shop to help her. Not finding anything, she said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it, if you think it’s important.’

‘Thank you,’ Boyd said, and put a hand on her arm to stop it flailing about.

Lottie said, ‘It might be later today, or maybe tomorrow. Does that work for you?’

‘I’ll make it work.’ Helena’s eyes clouded over, and Lottie thought the woman had gone into a semi-trance until she spoke again. ‘Mam can hold on to Noah.’

‘Noah?’

‘My son.’

‘Okay. Really appreciate you doing this for us, Helena.’ Lottie felt bad at foisting it on her, but she had no other choice.

‘That means you believe this dead woman is Éilis, doesn’t it?’

Lottie sighed. Helena was persistent, she had to give her that. ‘We suspect so, but please don’t say anything to anyone yet.’

‘First Jennifer. Now Éilis. What’s going on? How did she die?’

‘We can’t divulge that at the moment.’ Lottie couldn’t divulge anything because she didn’t yet know.

‘Where did you find her?’

‘You’ll read about it online soon enough,’ Boyd said softly, ‘so we might as well tell you. The body of a female was discovered this morning at Ladystown Lake.’

‘She drowned?’

‘Not as far as we know,’ Lottie said. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us about Éilis that might help us?’

‘You think she knew her killer, don’t you? You don’t believe she was murdered by some psycho on the prowl.’

‘We need to investigate every angle. You also knew Jennifer O’Loughlin. What can you tell me about her?’

Helena’s body slumped as if someone had dropped a weight on her shoulders. But her eyes had darkened, and this puzzled Lottie.

‘Jennifer was as quiet as a mouse. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. Soft-spoken and gentle. Éilis was more vocal and outgoing. Poles apart and they generally moved in different circles.’

‘From our information, Jennifer hardly moved in any circles apart from the Life After Loss widows’ group.’