Page 71 of Three Widows

Chloe tapped her card on the machine and rushed back to the boy. She had to get him out of there before Boyd’s ex-wife pounced. She wondered if she should tell Boyd, but knew in her heart that she’d rather not.

45

The unit rented by Jennifer was constructed of bare concrete blocks with a galvanised roof. An array of canvases were stacked against the walls. That wasn’t what had stopped them in their tracks, though.

‘What the hell is that?’ McKeown said.

‘Do you think maybe it might be a car?’ Martina said.

He turned at her sarcasm. ‘Really? Here was me thinking it was a fucking bus.’

She had her phone out taking photos of the vehicle. ‘The only car registered to either Jennifer or her husband is parked outside her house.’

He walked around the car and peered in the window on the driver’s side. ‘How did Jennifer get this white Hyundai in here?’

‘Gloves,’ Martina said, and handed him a pair.

‘Why?’

‘It might have been involved in a crime. It’s been hidden in a lock-up for a reason.’

‘True,’ he conceded. ‘Anything show up on the registration number?’

‘I’ll have to radio it in.’

‘Wait a minute. I want to have a look around first.’ McKeown marched around the car and moved towards the rear of the building. ‘There’s a big rolling security door here. The car was driven in this way.’

‘Will we look outside?’

‘In a minute. I want to see if the car is unlocked, and if there’s anything in it.’ He tugged on the gloves and depressed the handle. The door opened.

‘That’s a stroke of good luck.’ Martina leaned over, trying to see around him.

McKeown inhaled her sweet perfume before another odour invaded his senses. ‘I smell bleach.’

‘There’s only one reason someone would clean a car with bleach.’

‘To cover up something. A crime?’

He tapped on the torch on his phone to have a better look. The upholstery looked pristine, but the odour was coming from the footwell.

‘We’ll need to call SOCOs. There might have been blood in here.’

He opened the other doors and looked in at the rear seats. A stronger smell of bleach. No papers, wrappers or dirt of any kind was visible.

‘A body in the boot?’ Martina said.

‘Doubt it.’ All the same, he moved carefully around the car and pressed the boot. It popped up and he peered inside.

‘No body.’ The inside looked and smelled similarly clean. He shut it again and checked the tyres. No mud or debris caught in the rims or grooves. He shone the torch underneath. ‘A new car wouldn’t be this clean.’

‘It has a 2014 registration.’

‘You know what I mean.’ He stood. ‘Why has it been cleaned so meticulously? And what the hell is it doing in a lock-up rented by Jennifer O’Loughlin?’

‘We need to find out who it’s registered to.’

‘Radio it in now. I’m going to have a look outside.’