Page 45 of Final Betrayal

She tipped the envelope on its side, and a single silver coin slid out.

Richard Whyte claimed he knew nothing about the note or the coin. Had no idea when Amy had received it. He’d shrugged his shoulders and Lottie believed him. For the moment. They’d rushed back to Penny’s flat, but there was no envelope, note or coin to be found.

At the office, Lottie photocopied the note through the plastic evidence bag and pinned the copy up on the incident board.

‘It’s a blatant threat,’ Boyd said.

‘Someone targeted her,’ Lottie said. ‘Was it because of the old court case? The one where she gave evidence against Conor Dowling? We need to bring him in. I want to interview him. Preferably before he gets his hands on a solicitor. Do we know where he is?’

‘I’ll find out from the probation service.’

‘Do it now.’

‘Was it just the one note?’ Kirby asked, joining Lottie at the board.

‘I pulled the bedroom apart. It’s the only one.’

‘And she didn’t tell her father?’

‘He claims he knew nothing about it. But I’ll grill him again.’ Her phone pinged. A reminder. ‘I almost forgot. I have to go collect Chloe and Sean from school.’

‘Why? Aren’t they big and bold enough to walk home?’

‘Don’t ask, Kirby. Just don’t ask.’

She flew out of the office and down the stairs while texting her two children to stay at the school gates until she arrived.

Rose strained the pot of potatoes and fetched the masher. She would put on a fried egg later and that would do for her dinner. She missed having her grandchildren around. Rushing in from school and grabbing plates and cutlery, sometimes eating at the table, but more times in their rooms. She’d never allowed that kind of behaviour when Lottie was young, but now life seemed too short for nonsense rules. She put the pot to the rear of the stove and went to get the frying pan from the shelf.

The doorbell rang.

Lottie had told her not to open the door, but she could see through the glass that it was just a woman in a rain jacket standing on her step.

When she was bundled backwards into her own hallway, she knew she’d made a mistake.

Lottie would kill her.

If Bernie Kelly didn’t do it first.

TWENTY-FOUR

In Whyte’s Pharmacy, Kirby was glad of the mug of coffee offered to him by Megan Price. She was seated opposite him, her dark hair feathered with strands of grey held back in a ponytail and her black dress with brass buttons down the front adding an air of regality to her appearance. She had hung up her white work coat when he’d arrived. He inhaled the antiseptic smell of medicines emanating from the stacks on the shelves around them, and when she stared at him, he dropped his eyes and drank a mouthful of coffee.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Megan said. ‘Two lovely young women in the prime of their lives. Who would want to do such a thing?’

‘It’s a brutal old world we live in,’ Kirby said. ‘I need you to think over everything you know about each of them. People they may have spoken about. Anyone who came into the shop that they reacted to in any way that you can remember as being … let’s say unusual.’

‘You’ll have to let me think about it.’

Kirby put the mug on the floor between his feet and noted how scruffy his shoes looked. The toes were scuffed, and when he lifted his foot, he could see where the sole was coming away. Gilly would have had something to say. He gulped loudly.

‘Is anything wrong?’ Megan Price said. He felt her hand brush his knee.

‘No, no, it’s fine. I’m fine.’

‘You look tired, and if I may so, there’s a deep-rooted sadness in your eyes. I know that look.’

‘And what look might that be?’ Kirby tried a wry smile. He didn’t want to talk about Gilly. How was it that she invaded his thoughts at the most inopportune moments?

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