Page 88 of Three Widows

‘How do you know that?’

‘I sweet talked the woman at the letting agency and got the leasing documents.’

‘Who rented it before her?’

‘Give me a minute.’

He waited while she made the call. Taking a few pens out of the holder, he scattered them on Boyd’s desk. He saw her beckoning him over, her mouth forming an O. He extracted himself from the desk and stood in front of her.

‘What?’ He tapped the desk. Could she not hurry up?

‘Wait,’ she mouthed. ‘Okay, thanks a million. Email me the details.’

She called out her email address and hung up.

‘What did you find?’ Kirby shuffled from foot to foot and fought the urge to shake the information out of her.

‘You won’t believe it.’ She was really dragging this out.

‘Martina! Don’t do this to me.’

‘Okay, keep your hair on. That unit was previously rented by none other than Damien O’Loughlin! Jennifer’s husband. The letting agency is emailing me the details.’

‘Okay, but I still don’t understand it. Does this mean that Jennifer knew the car was there all along? And what was the relationship between the Keatings and the O’Loughlins?’

‘Maybe she knew Tyler,’ Martina said.

‘Wasn’t McKeown supposed to do a background check on Damien O’Loughlin? Don’t answer that. He probably has his head stuck in useless CCTV.’

‘Look, I have to go. I’m supposed to be checking out the pubs for Orla and Helena.’

‘And why aren’t you?’ Kirby asked.

‘Garda Lei wanted to take the lead, so I let him.’

‘Good. You’re better utilised here than doing a pub crawl, as McKeown called it.’

Kirby took his cigar out of his shirt pocket and stuck it between his lips. He had no intention of lighting up in the office, but holding it helped him think more clearly.

‘Has this lock-up even got anything to do with Jennifer’s murder? We have Éilis Lawlor’s murder to bring into the equation.’ He scratched his head, thinking.

‘Yeah, I know. But this rental and the boxes found there means we need to have a look at Damien O’Loughlin’s life. As if we weren’t snowed under already.’

Kirby slouched around the office as uniforms arrived with the three banker boxes. ‘Might as well start with these. Hopefully we can find something to help us.’

‘Like what?’

‘Don’t know, but there has to be a reason why they were hidden away.’

‘Are they originals?’

He flicked open one of the files. ‘They seem to be copies.’

‘Do you need a hand?’

‘Two, if you’re offering.’

After a half-hour, Martina held aloft a file. ‘Tyler Keating used Bowen Solicitors for his house purchase.’