Page 124 of Final Betrayal

‘Why were you in the tunnel?’

‘Working. I told you that already.’

‘I don’t buy it. Let me tell you what I think.’

‘Do I have a choice?’

‘I think you took advantage of the mayhem surrounding the crane accident to go down there and move the body that you put there in the first place.’

‘I didn’t know there’d been an accident until I tried to get out of the fucking place.’

‘What was the sequence of events?’

He let out a long, exhausted sigh. ‘I had a meeting with the foreman and the boss. Mr Gill was angry. He wanted to make sure I had nothing to do with his daughter’s murder. Which I hadn’t, for your information. After that, I left the office and started work. That’s it. Oh, I had a fag with Tony first. Ask him. He’ll tell you, if he’s still alive. Is he?’

‘Yes.’

Conor’s face sank into itself. Lottie couldn’t determine if he was pleased or not.

He continued. ‘Then I got stuck underground and had to find my way through the tunnels to try to get out. Lucky you guys turned up.’ He raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘Why were you there? Did you know I was trapped?’

Ignoring his question, Lottie said, ‘What about the body?’

Conor leaned back into his chair. ‘Are you trying to charge me with that as well as everything else?’

‘Just answer the bloody question,’ Boyd said.

Conor blew out a breath of sour air. ‘The body was there when I crawled through the hole in the bricks. I couldn’t get out the way I’d gone into the tunnel, so I had to keep going. But then I realised I was stuck. Only time I’ve been glad to see the guards.’

Lottie wished she had a notebook or file in front of her as a prop. With exhaustion eating its way into her bones, she needed all her energy to concentrate. Had he really just stumbled on the body like she had, or was something more sinister at play? Her gut told her he knew more than he was letting on. How to get him to admit it, though?

She said, ‘I found something interesting in that tomb, for want of a better word.’

‘Tomb?’

Was he really as dumb as he appeared? She was getting weary and getting nowhere. ‘Two silver coins.’

Studying his face intently, she thought his skin had paled, but she couldn’t be sure. A few ginger freckles dotted his nose; otherwise he was a deathly white.

‘Know nothing about them,’ he said, and chewed the inside of his cheek.

Time to change tactics. ‘I visited your mother yesterday.’

His cheeks turned red. Instantly. ‘My mother! What the fuck you going near her for?’

‘I called to your home because I actually wanted to talk to you.’

‘You leave my mother out of this.’

‘I had to check your alibi.’

‘What alibi?’

He was riled now. Good, she thought.

‘Your alibi for the murders of Amy Whyte and Penny Brogan. Also those of Louise Gill and Cristina Lee. Didn’t you say you were home with your mother last Saturday and Tuesday nights?’

‘I’m home every night. Not last night, of course, because I was stuck in a fucking dark hole.’

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