Page 108 of Final Betrayal

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, unable to utter a word. She felt his arms go around her shoulders and he pulled her into his chest.

‘Oh Boyd.’

‘Shh. It’s delayed shock. You’ve been through a traumatic experience. Your girls are missing. Cry if you need to.’

‘I think Bernie Kelly might have taken them.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘I’m not sure. Both their phones are off. McKeown is trying to get a trace on them.’ She told Boyd what she knew so far.

‘Perhaps they’re still down at the courthouse?’

‘Kirby said it’s all sealed off and onlookers have been moved on. Bernie Kelly visited my mother the other night and made a threat to harm my children. That’s why I’ve had a squad car parked outside and a taxi taking Sean and Chloe to school.’

‘But you said a coin fell out of Louis’ pocket. That’s not Kelly’s calling card. That’s … you know … from our current murder sites.’

‘I don’t know what to think.’

‘We’ll put our heads together and come up with a plan.’

‘You need to rest.’

‘Like hell I do. We have to find your girls.’

She linked his arm and went back into the incident room. She felt that if anyone could find her daughters, it was Boyd.

Moments later, Acting Superintendent McMahon burst through the door.

‘I thought you two were under medical observation,’ he said. ‘What are you doing here?’

He looked more dishevelled than Lottie had ever seen him, and stress lines inked their way around his eyes like dinosaurs’ feet.

‘We are perfectly able to work,’ she said, though her voice was a low whisper.

‘Right then. This major emergency just got worse. Apparently there are gas lines at risk, though it should be sorted in the next few hours, and we still haven’t recovered all the bodies. I have a list of the dead identified on site, and their families need to be informed. I also want to know who is still missing and presumed dead at this stage. The chief fire officer is in charge of an incident centre at the council offices and I’m his second in command, along with the county manager. We’re still awaiting the lifting equipment from Dublin so we can see what’s beneath the crane and discover why and how this accident happened.’

Lottie stared at her boss. She could do with a quarter of his adrenaline at this moment.

‘Sir,’ she said, ‘we have another situation.’

‘I know.’

‘You do?’

‘There’s still a murderer on the loose. Four young women and we haven’t a single clue.’

Boyd said, ‘We’ve been working flat out on it. Conor Dowling is our number one suspect, but he may have been killed in the accident.’

‘His name is not on the list of dead,’ McMahon said.

‘That’s not the situation I’m referring to,’ Lottie said. Exhaustion seeped into her bones, exacerbating the aches, but she remained standing. She had to fight to find her daughters.

‘What then? Spit it out.’

She knew he was going to give her short shrift. ‘I have reason to believe that my daughters, Katie and Chloe, have been abducted.’ Her heart began to palpitate at an alarming rate and she took a couple of slow, deep breaths.

‘Explain,’ he said, but he’d already turned his back.

---