Page 118 of Her Last Walk Home

‘Did you ever take her photo then?’ Lottie leaned over and slid Aneta’s photograph onto his desk.

‘No.’ He paused and glanced down at the image, then up with a faraway stare. He was remembering something. She fought down an urge to shake it out of him. He said, ‘Maybe I did, you know. Hold on.’ He tapped his computer awake. ‘I didn’t notice it before. I did some work for the local rag last year. Their photographer was on maternity leave. Seeing the photo up close, there’s something about that girl’s face that’s familiar but not at the same time. I have an eye for beauty.’

Lottie rolled her eyes and turned to Boyd. He shook his head. Keep your mouth shut, he was silently telling her. The air in the small office was stifling, and she held in a sneeze.

Greg said, ‘Yes! It’s her.’

‘What’s her?’ Lottie edged over behind him. A tight squeeze.

He pointed towards the montage of photos on his desktop screen. ‘It was a fundraising thing out at Cuan last year. That’s the rehab place close to Delvin. Do you know it?’

‘Go on.’ She tried to keep her heart in her chest and not in her mouth.

‘I took a lot of photos. Only one or two made it into the paper, I think. This one was of some of the staff.’ Clicking an icon, he zoomed up the photo. ‘That’s her, isn’t it?’

Lottie leaned over his shoulder. ‘Have you any more photos from that day?’

‘Loads. I’ll put them on a USB for you. Give me a minute.’

‘Is it Aneta?’ Boyd asked.

‘Yes,’ Lottie said. ‘It’s different from the photo printed in the paper. Just put everything from that day on the USB, please.’ She wanted to get out of the stifling office.

‘Sure thing. You’re as prickly as Katie.’

‘Leave my daughter alone.’

‘That’s up to her, isn’t it?’

Before she could retort, she felt Boyd’s hand on her elbow. She kept quiet then and waited for Greg to hand over the USB stick.

When she had it, she said, ‘We’ll be in contact.’

Back in her office, Lottie read through the email from the lab. The clay found under Laura Nolan’s fingernail matched the soil in Aneta’s stab wound. It was possible that the killer had transferred it. It had to be that, she thought, otherwise how could the soil have got into the wounds, since it appeared not to be from where the bodies were found? The same killer was involved. She tried to read through the analysis, but it was way too technical for her brain.

Then, in the summary, she caught something she could understand. There was a trace of tomato seeds in the soil. Had it been used to plant tomatoes at some stage? Or was it an anomaly? They still had to link John’s murder to the two women’s deaths.

About to insert Greg Plunkett’s USB stick into her computer, she glanced up to see Boyd at the door.

‘Shouldn’t you get that checked for a virus before you put it near your computer?’

‘Boyd, if there’s a virus on this, our system should be able to kill it, otherwise it’s not worth the money the department forked out for it. Okay?’

‘I don’t know why you’re so hung up about the photos. We know Aneta was working there that day. It makes sense that she’d have been caught in at least some of the press photos, even if they weren’t printed in the paper.’

‘We need to identify everyone in them. As far as we know, this is proof of one of the last times anyone saw Aneta Kobza.’

‘She may have been around after that.’

‘She was, because she went out on Valentine’s night, and then puff! Gone. So until we get an eyewitness or some other verification, this is what we have to work with.’

‘It’s diverting our focus from the other victims.’

‘If we solve the mystery surrounding Aneta, why she was taken and where she was held, I reckon we solve the other murders. And we’ll find Shannon Kenny alive. I believe Aneta was held somewhere for almost a year and Shannon could have been taken to replace her.’

‘What about Laura Nolan?’ Boyd countered.

‘She either fought back, or something went wrong and he killed her shortly after abducting her. It’s the only explanation I can come up with until we get evidence to the contrary.’

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