Page 107 of Her Last Walk Home

Kirby bit back his retort, for which Lottie was grateful. She eyeballed McKeown.

‘You have CCTV to finish, plus we need Aneta’s Irish bank information. Follow up that warrant. Okay?’

‘Sure,’ he said, without sounding even close to sincere. ‘It’s a bit odd Aneta has no family contacts listed on her phone.’

‘Yes, it is,’ Lottie said. ‘So theremustbe a second phone.’

Garda Lei said, ‘We went through everything in the suitcase and the box.’

‘Maybe whoever abducted her had her keys and took the phone and anything else that might have incriminated them.’

‘Should we examine her apartment?’ Kirby said.

‘It’s been totally redecorated. New furniture, too. We’re lucky the caretaker hadn’t dumped the suitcase and box.’

Garda Thornton, the desk sergeant, put his head around the door. ‘Is no one answering a phone? Brenda Morgan is downstairs. She’s spitting fire, I may as well warn you.’

‘Thanks.’ Lottie looked at her team. ‘You know what you have to do. We need to find Shannon Kenny too. Please, please get me something.’

She followed Thornton out, hoping they caught a break soon, otherwise she herself might break.

77

After speaking with Brenda Morgan, Lottie was no further on. All she’d gleaned from the grieving mother was that Brenda was gunning for Collins. She’d flatly denied anything to do with the money going into Aneta’s account and had no idea who she was. Then she played the ‘speak to my solicitor’ card, which infuriated Lottie further.

Her mood didn’t improve with the news that Gordon Collins wasn’t at home, nor was he on the building site at Pine Grove.

‘We need to speak to him,’ she told Boyd.

‘He’s probably visiting his ex-wife and daughters in Dublin. Or something…’

‘Or something? Why isn’t he answering his phone? Why doesn’t the site manager, Patrick Curran, know where he is? Jesus, Boyd, if Collins is behind these killings, we’ve let him slip through our fingers.’

‘Don’t get ahead of yourself. He has no reason to think that we suspect him of anything. We don’t even know ifwesuspect him yet.’

‘I know that, but Aneta’s face was all over the news and social media this morning. What if that spooked him?’

‘Perhaps,’ Boyd said. ‘He clammed up when we showed him her death-mask photo.’

She inspected the copy of the photo they’d found of the group on the steps of a building. ‘This building could be Cuan years ago, before the fire. The facade could have been altered in the rebuild. Maybe that’s why they need the big donations from the likes of Collins.’

‘You’re really stretching that fishing line now.’

‘One way to find out. Let’s pay a visit to Irene Dunbar.’

Boyd drove them to Cuan and expelled a low whistle when they reached their destination. ‘It’s impressive. What are the fees like here?’

‘Expensive,’ Lottie said.

He parked the car. ‘How would Laura Nolan and Shannon Kenny be able to afford them?’

‘Hadn’t thought of that.’ She mentally kicked herself. Had someone helped them out financially? ‘We can ask. Hope you brought that photo.’

He tapped the folder he carried under his arm. ‘I have all we need.’

Mona buzzed them in.

‘Hi, Mona,’ Lottie said. ‘This is Detective Sergeant Boyd. We’d like to talk to Irene Dunbar.’

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