Page 126 of The Altar Girls

‘Is there another door inside?’

‘Just that one.’

‘Take Alfie out of here, Kirby. Have him checked over by a doctor, get him some food and hold him until I can question him. You better call his mother.’

She knew she’d have to arrest him for abducting Bethany, at least until they got to the bottom of it. After that, it was anyone’s guess what would happen to him.

Her first priority was getting Connolly out of the locked room in one piece.

While the premises swarmed with uniformed guards and SOCOs, Lottie hammered on the door. She could hear Connolly crying.

‘Maurice, you need to come out and explain what’s going on.’

‘You don’t understand. No one understands.’

‘Tell me and I’ll try.’

A set of heavy footsteps behind her caused her to swing around. ‘Who are you?’

The small, stout man with receding hair held a bunch of keys. ‘Jasper Crowe. Maurice’s assistant. I can open the door for you.’

‘Show me which key it is and I’ll do it.’

He took a key off the jangling bunch and handed it over. ‘For what it’s worth, I don’t think he did anything bad.’

She could do without his input. Connolly had kept Alfie captive, hadn’t he? ‘Stand back, Mr Crowe. Actually, leave the room.’

She waited while he left.

Her nerves were tingling as she unlocked the door. Maurice Connolly was curled up in a ball in a corner, sobbing into his hands like a child.

‘Stand up.’

He removed his hands from his face and looked up at her. ‘You’ve got it all wrong.’

‘You’ll have to convince me then.’

He shook his head, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stood. It was then she noticed that he’d wet himself.

79

True to his word, Detective Duncan had sent uniforms to help search the caravan park. Three of them. Boyd shook his head. ‘Thought you’d get me a lot more boots on the ground.’

‘You thought we’d have this job done in half an hour, did you?’ Duncan said.

‘Yep.’

‘By the way, a Detective Kirby rang asking about you.’

Boyd ignored him. ‘Did you get in touch with the site manager?’

‘Yes, and I have keys to the caravans and mobile homes.’

‘We need to work in pairs. Just in case…’ Boyd’s voice trailed off. He didn’t want to contemplate that Sergio was being held at gunpoint.

‘Agree. Don’t know what we’ll come up against.’

‘I’ll stick with Enda.’

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