Page 107 of Final Betrayal

‘No. I’ll only get a lecture, and I’ve had one of those from him already. I want you to go to the Joyce Hotel. Talk to Leo Belfield. We need to discover if he knew what Bernie was planning. I don’t trust him. For all I know, he could be in on this with her.’

‘I’ll do that straight away. And boss, I’ve yet to source that Thompson file. Will it wait?’

‘Yes. Finding my girls is top priority.’ She marched around the desks. ‘I could do with Boyd’s expertise.’

‘Am I not enough for you?’

She glanced at Kirby, but he was smiling. ‘Talk to Belfield.’

‘I’m already gone.’

Leo Belfield was a wreck. Kirby found him sitting at the bar in the Joyce nursing a brandy.

‘And you haven’t seen Bernie since?’

‘No. I woke up and she was gone. I told all this to Lottie. I’ve scoured the town. Drove to the old family place. Walked the lake shores. She’s vanished.’

‘People don’t vanish.’

‘They do where I come from. Into the East River, most of them.’

‘This is Ragmullin, not New York.’ Kirby could feel the colour rising up his face. He felt like shaking Belfield into action. ‘And Lottie’s two daughters have apparently gone missing. So I could do with your help.’

‘I told you, I’ve looked everywhere.’

‘Did she say anything to you when you got her out on day release? Any clue about what she was planning to do?’

Belfield shook his head. ‘She never said anything.’

Kirby didn’t believe that line for a second. He hustled Belfield off the stool. ‘You’re coming with me. Grab your coat.’

‘Where?’

‘To face Lottie Parker. And I’m warning you, you’d better tell her what you know.’

Lottie walked to the incident room and, ignoring the bowed heads of the detectives and uniformed officers working hard on the murder investigations, studied the board.

Before and after photographs of the four victims. Killed in twos. She felt her heart sink deep down in her chest, and blood pounded a sinister beat behind her eyes. The photos blurred. Had the person who’d ended the lives of these young women so violently now got their hands on her daughters? That thought made her sway, and she leaned back against the desk. Surely not. No, she was certain that Bernie Kelly had taken them, and that she wasn’t the killer they were looking for.

Kelly could not be responsible for those murders because she had been behind locked doors when the first two girls were killed. So which was worse? The idea that the unknown murderer could have her girls or that Bernie Kelly had them? She knew what Kelly was capable of. Hadn’t she murdered indiscriminately to a point where she’d drowned her daughter’s best friend in a barrel of water? A girl who’d turned out to be Bernie’s own niece.

Lottie sighed deeply and tried to figure out which way to turn next while she waited for McKeown to trace their phones.

Boyd. She needed his wisdom and clear thinking. She turned to leave the room.

‘Lottie, I came as soon as I heard.’ Boyd grabbed her by the arm and steered her out to the corridor.

‘You’re a sight for sore eyes,’ she tried to joke, but sobs lodged in her throat and she gulped them down. She leaned against the wall while he tipped up her chin. ‘How did you hear?’

‘Kirby swung by the hospital and brought me here. I tried to call you,’ he said. ‘Why have you got your phone switched off?’

‘Don’t talk to me about phones. Mine is lost and I got one from the stores that I can’t figure out how to work.’ She paused. ‘You shouldn’t be out of hospital.’

‘Don’t, Lottie.’ He held up a bandaged hand. ‘I’m a little bruised, and very sore, but nothing life-threatening. Tell me about Katie and Chloe.’

She bit her lip. Emotion welled up and she was afraid that if she spoke she would break down. And she had no time for that.

‘Go on,’ he said gently.

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