Page 99 of The Altar Girls

‘Jacinta Nally has to be notified that her son is AWOL. Her house needs to be searched and she needs to be brought in for questioning.’

‘You think her eleven-year-old son is responsible for killing two little girls?’

‘I don’t know what to think. If he did kill them, he had to have help to transport their bodies. We have probable cause for a warrant to search the Nally house. Organise that if she doesn’t give permission to search. For the time being, mother and son are moved from the witness to the suspect list, even though my gut is telling me the boy is in danger.’

‘And the priest?’

‘Father Maguire? What about him?’

‘All this choir business could be a front for… child abuse and murder.’

‘There’s no evidence that either girl was sexually assaulted, and we have accounted for the physical abuse suffered by Naomi at her mother’s hands. Damn, I have to speak with Ruth again. In the meantime, bring in Jacinta. We have to find Alfie Nally.’

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Ruth was supine on the granite bed in the cell. Her long hair was loose and splayed about her face. Small expelled breaths raised it across her nose and mouth.

‘Ruth, get up. We need to talk.’

The woman shot up as if awakened by a bad dream. Lottie figured this was more than likely her worst nightmare.

‘I’m not talking without a solicitor present. Did you get me one?’

‘There’s no duty solicitor available. We might have someone by morning. Mind if I sit?’

She perched beside the woman on the cold stone bed. ‘Bethany was taken from your home this afternoon.’

‘What do you mean, taken?’ Ruth jumped up and faced her. ‘Is she okay? Tell me!’

‘She’s fine. We found her. Sit down.’

She refused the request. Instead she stomped around the cell, hair flying in time with her steps. ‘You locked me up here because you figured I was a danger to my children, and then one of them is abducted. Can’t you see it? I did not kill Naomi.’

‘I didn’t bring you in because I thought that.’ Well, maybe a little bit, Lottie thought. ‘You’re here because I witnessed what you did to Bethany. You abused your children.’

‘I punished them when they needed to be punished. That’s not a crime or a sin.’

‘It is when you break their fragile little bones.’

‘You can’t prove anything.’ Ruth leaned against the wall and bit her lip, her colour high.

‘But your God sees all things, doesn’t he? He sees that you’ve sinned and are unrepentant. Didn’t he say something about repent and receive the gift of the holy spirit?’ Lottie surprised herself with that statement; she supposed it had been drummed into her by the nuns when she was a child.

Ruth’s face paled at the words. She walked over and sat down again.

‘I do my best. I really do.’

‘No one is doubting that.’

‘But I sometimes lose my temper. That’s a sin. I confess, and then it happens again. I don’t know how to cope.’

‘You need help, Ruth. And you and Isaac have a fight on your hands to keep Bethany and Jacob.’

‘I will talk to that priest. He will heal me.’

‘No, Ruth, you need to see a health professional.’

‘You mean a shrink?’

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