Page 121 of Her Last Walk Home

McGovern stood. At the door he yelled, ‘Rex. Sitting room. Now.’

Lottie felt a surge of rage at the way he had called out, but dampened it down when the boy entered the room. His eyes betrayed a sense of sadness. Like the outer walls of the house, she thought. Did this despondency ooze outwards from those who lived within the walls?

‘Hi, Rex. There’s nothing to be scared of. I only want to have a chat with you.’

The child looked up at his father and nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Sit wherever you’re comfortable.’ She watched the boy perch on the edge of the couch. She moved from the dining chair to sit on the opposite end.

He turned to face her. Dressed in Superman pyjamas, he had fluffy socks on his feet.

‘Rex, you spoke with…’ she thought ‘colleagues’ was too formal for a child, ‘my friends earlier. You might be able to help us. Can you do that?’

‘If you want. Whatever.’

‘You told them you left the house real early on Friday morning and walked up towards the cinema. Is that correct?’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Benny McGovern jumped up.

Rex glanced at his father, his eyes open wide. ‘I only went for a walk ’cos I couldn’t sleep.’

‘Mr McGovern, Benny, please.’ Lottie waited until the man sat back down. ‘Now, Rex, you said you saw the woman’s body. Is that right?’

‘She was all alone. I sat on the wet grass to talk to her. I knew she was dead because she wouldn’t answer me.’

‘Okay, Rex, you’re doing great,’ Lottie said. ‘Can you tell me about her?’

‘There was blood on her top and she had no coat. Her feet were muddy so she mustn’t have had shoes on. The grass was all wet.’

‘Did you touch her?’

He recoiled into the cushions. ‘No. No way. Gross.’

‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t either. What did you do then?’

‘Just sat there to mind her until someone came to help her.’

‘And did someone come?’

‘Yeah, the guy who works in the coffee shop, and I ran off and hid behind the bushes, and then the guards came and I went home.’

McGovern came to sit on the arm of the couch beside his son. ‘You went to school, Rex, didn’t you?’

Rex bit his lip. ‘I was too scared to go.’

‘Did you not notice your son missing that morning, Benny?’

The man’s cheeks flushed. ‘Me and Brigette, well, we’d had a big argument Thursday night so I went off to work in a huff. I didn’t look in on Rex. He usually gets himself to school anyhow. It’s only down the road. Practically next door. We start work at eight.’

‘Where do you work?’

‘I’m a manager at Tesco in Gaddstown, and Brigette works for a hair salon in Maynooth. We’re both on the road early.’

‘And Rex gets himself up, fed and out to school?’

‘Brigette gets his breakfast ready and calls him down. But it seems Friday morning was different. It’s probably because we were rowing the night before.’

‘About what?’

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