Page 148 of Her Last Walk Home

‘He should be.’

‘You’ll have to talk to Diana.’

‘She was burned out of her rented accommodation.’

Irene turned her head frenetically, gulping. ‘They’ll come for me now and burn me out too. Dear God, what did we do?’

‘You tell me.’ Lottie sat in one of the chairs. Boyd did likewise. They sat in the silence. No sound of a lawnmower outside today. ‘Go on, Irene.’

‘She was a first-class manipulator. Manipulated all of us, especially Gordon. When she got pregnant, we tried to help her. God, we did. She just sneered. Stamped her foot and laid down the law. Then this place went on fire. Half of it was burned down. I knew it was her, but I couldn’t prove it. And Gordon… Poor Gordon. He’s been making donations he can’t afford, because he feels responsible, and perhaps he’s afraid I’ll tell. I’d never tell. I value my life too much.’

‘I’m lost, Irene.’ Lottie side-eyed Boyd to confirm he felt similar confusion.

‘She was at the event here last year. I nearly died with shock. I thought she was still in the UK. I had no idea she had come back. Then I found out she’d been working in Ragmullin this five years. I’m afraid that when Aneta got upset that day, I admitted who her mother was.’

‘Who are you talking about?’

Irene darted her finger towards a girl in the photograph without touching it, as if it might scorch her.

‘Name her for me,’ Lottie said, returning to her earlier question.

‘I fear her more than I fear the law. She’s a chameleon. Her face could tell a hundred different stories in one hour. You never knew who you were going to meet.’

‘We have alibis, albeit weak, for everyone in our investigation,’ Lottie said, half thinking out loud.

‘What about her sidekick?’ Irene said.

‘Who?’

‘He keeps his eyes stuck to me every single day since I discovered she’d returned.’

‘And who is that?’

‘The gardener here. She forced me to take him on. Claimed she knew all sorts of things about me that would ruin me if made public. I’ve nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong. Not in recent years, anyhow. I helped back then. What we did was a mistake, and she couldn’t reveal that old secret without implicating herself. But I know she’d twist things so badly that I’d never be able to hold my head high in public again.’

‘What’s the gardener’s name?’

‘Probably not his real name. And I pay him in cash. Her stipulation. No money trail. Clever bitch.’ Irene’s body sagged, as if the revelations had sucked the life from her.

‘His name?’

‘Thomas McCabe.’

Lottie wondered if he was related to Magenta McCabe, the name on the birth certificate. He had to be. ‘Do you know anything else about him?’

‘No. He says nothing. He’s good in the greenhouse, I’ll give him that.’

‘Do you sow tomatoes in a greenhouse?’

‘Why on earth…? Yes, but why?’

‘Doesn’t matter. How does he travel to and from here?’

‘He drives a taxi. I reckon it’s bogus.’

‘Did he transport Aneta to work?’

‘He wasn’t here back then. He started shortly after she left.’

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