Page 88 of Final Betrayal

‘Like what?’

‘The ink. The paper type. Where it might have been purchased. Is it rare or mass-produced? All that kind of thing.’

‘All that kind of thing costs money. Wait for the fingerprint analysis. The words are written in capital letters, so no point doing handwriting analysis. Keep it in mind, but no further action at the moment.’

‘It was a direct threat to Amy. It’s a major clue. We need to follow it up,’ Boyd protested.

‘How do you envisage we do that?’

‘TV appeal?’

‘You’ll have the crazies crawling out of the woodwork. The coins are a different matter. We need to see if anyone recognises them. Maybe your friend Cynthia could help there.’

‘She’s no friend of mine,’ Boyd said.

She let it go. ‘We need house-to-house stepped up around Cristina’s apartment. We need to establish her last-known movements, and the same for Louise. Her father says she left the house sometime after eight on Tuesday night. Her body was found yesterday morning. So I want a timeline for her movements during that interval.’ She turned to look at the photos of the four victims on the board. ‘What links these four young women to lead them to be the targets of a killer?’

‘Amy and Louise gave evidence against Conor Dowling. Maybe he’s exacting his revenge,’ Boyd said.

‘But why kill Penny and Cristina?’ Kirby asked. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘To muddy the waters?’ Boyd offered.

‘Penny worked with Amy at one stage,’ Lottie said. ‘Did you find out anything worthwhile at the pharmacy, Kirby?’

‘Just that she was let go for petty pilfering. Amy had secured her the job originally.’

‘Penny’s list of clients for her nail bar,’ Lottie said, remembering the black appointment book. ‘Anyone turn up there that might be suspicious?’

‘I’ll check it,’ Kirby said, tapping his shirt pocket for his elusive cigar that he couldn’t smoke inside anyway.

Lottie thought he looked a little brighter this morning. That makes one of us, she thought.

‘Priorities for today. One, find out if Louise visited Conor Dowling in prison. There might be something in her coursework; if not, contact Mountjoy. Boyd, you do that. Two, the coins need to be identified. Kirby, you stick McGlynn on that one. And the phones. Especially the Nokia. I want the SIM card found. Once Richard Whyte gives the go-ahead, I want a full search of his house. McKeown, you also need to keep on top of the CCTV.’

‘Will do,’ Sam McKeown said.

‘What are we going to do about Conor Dowling?’ Boyd said.

‘Request a twenty-four-hour surveillance detail to tail him,’ Lottie said. ‘I want to know what he eats and where he shits until this investigation is closed.’

‘We better run that by the superintendent first.’

‘I intend to do it straight away.’

‘Wish you luck with that.’

‘Then you and I are going to talk to Dowling’s mother.’

‘What for?’

‘To shake up his weak alibi.’

FORTY-THREE

Tony lounged against the wall at the side of the courthouse. He saw Bob Cleary haul Conor into the office and reckoned he was going to be fired. In a way, he was glad. Conor was putting the shits up him and he didn’t like it. Waiting for Cleary to return before continuing with his work, he wondered if a decision had been made about the body in the tunnel. If it was up to him, he’d go along with Conor’s suggestion to ignore it so that they could get on with the job.

He doused his cigarette in a puddle and looked up, surprised to see Conor walking towards him.

---