Page 105 of Her Last Walk Home

‘You sound sceptical, but it’s a good idea. What about Greg Plunkett? Do you believe him when he said Aneta wasn’t registered with his escort business?’

‘McKeown checked the database and her name doesn’t appear on it. If it turns out she is on it under a different name,then the killer could have targeted these young women thinking they were sex workers.’

‘That leads us back to Plunkett,’ Boyd said. ‘No one else has access to that database, do they?’

‘Not that we know of. Did his background check throw up anything?’

‘He hasn’t come to our attention before now.’

‘John Morgan is the anomaly.’ She scratched her head, remembering how badly her hair needed a cut. ‘He may not be linked to the two dead women at all. He wasn’t killed in the same way. But still…’

‘The other connection between them is Cuan.’

‘Yes, and I don’t know what to do, Boyd. Someone killed two young women and a young man, and probably abducted another woman. And they all were in that rehab centre.’

‘Agreed on that point.’

‘But Laura and Shannon were registered with Plunkett’s agency,’ she said. ‘I’m still not ruling out that activity as a motive for a sick killer. However, we need to find Aneta’s family.’

‘If it’s her phone, it should give us some information. Was there anything on her CV about her prior to coming to Ireland?’

‘No, it was skimpy at best. I’d like to know why she came here and why she picked Cuan for work.’

‘She got an apartment handy enough, so she must have had it all worked out before she arrived. And according to Garda Lei, she’d need about a grand for a deposit.’

‘The caretaker said she paid cash.’

‘So she took cash out of her Polish bank account. There was only five hundred zloty – that’s about a hundred and twenty euro – in her account before she travelled. Speaking of which, how did she get to work? Cuan is twenty kilometres away.’

Lottie reached for the phone. ‘I’d like a word with Ms Dunbar,’ she said, dialling.

‘It’s Mona,’ she mouthed to Boyd before she resumed listening. ‘Oh, well maybe you can help me, Mona. How did Aneta get to and from work?’ She listened a while longer before saying, ‘I might drop out that way later. For formal interviews. Unless you’d like to come to the station?’ She winked at Boyd. ‘I thought so. I’ll ring beforehand to let you know when we’ll be there.’

She hung up. ‘Irene isn’t taking calls. But Mona says Aneta had no car and she thinks she may have got lifts or taken a taxi now and again.’

Just then Garda Lei bustled into the office without knocking. ‘You’ll never believe what I found in that cardboard box from Aneta Kobza’s apartment.’

‘Go on, what did you find?’ Lottie said. She saw he was holding something with a bad crease down the middle. ‘What is it?’

‘A photograph. You’re going to want to see this.’

‘Today, if possible.’

‘Sure. Here.’ He handed it across the desk with a triumphant smile.

Lottie studied the photo.

Standing in what looked like an Australian bar, pint in hand, was a smiling John Morgan.

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‘I want Brenda Morgan in here, and I don’t care how much she objects. She’s staying at the Joyce Hotel. And I want to talk to Irene Dunbar. Gordon Collins too.’ Lottie paced the tiny space behind her desk. ‘Let’s work in the incident room, where we can breathe. Get copies of that photo, Garda Lei, and bring them in too. Good work.’

McKeown waved his iPad as he trooped into the incident room behind them.

‘I got Aneta Kobza’s financials from Poland. I had the IBAN from the bank statement found among her possessions, so I was able to fudge the truth. They emailed over the full year’s statements up to the December before she came to Ireland.’

‘And?’

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