Page 119 of Her Last Walk Home

‘Where does John Morgan’s murder fit in?’

‘I don’t know yet, but he was in Cuan when the others were there, so it fits in somewhere.’

‘Okay.’ He looked unsure as he edged out to the general office.

She called him back. ‘I’m forwarding you this lab report. It mentions soil transference. Can you talk to someone at the lab to find out where this soil might have come from?’

‘Sure.’

After sending him the lab report, she slotted the USB into the computer port. The icons loaded one by one. There were 105 photographs. The date was two days before Valentine’s Day last year.

Her phone vibrated and skidded across the desk. Kirby. You may wait, she thought, as she opened the first image.

Kirby felt bad leaving Garda Lei at Moorland with orders to notify him when Rex’s parents arrived home. But it was imperative that he get McKeown out of there. He was liable to say the wrong thing and terrify the child into silence. He could also get them suspended for entering the house and speaking to a seven-year-old child without his parents being present.

‘It’s a right balls-up,’ he admitted to Lottie when he got back to the station.

‘You can say that again.’

‘I should have called social services.’

‘You should not have interviewed a child without parental consent. This is serious, Kirby.’

‘Would you have done any different?’

She thought for a moment. ‘In the circumstance, I’d have done the same. The child might help us identify Laura Nolan’s killer and in turn save Shannon.’

‘I spoke to her brother earlier. George is a wreck. Her nephew, Davy, keeps asking for her. We have to get her home safe.’

Lottie nodded slowly. ‘What possible motive can someone have for killing those young people?’

‘When we catch the bastard, we can ask him.’ He took his hands out of his pockets awkwardly and stifled a yawn. Hisphone beeped with a text and he checked it. ‘Lei says Rex’s parents are home. The McGoverns.’

‘Okay, I’ll go over there and see if they’ll allow us to talk to their son.’

‘Am I in trouble, boss?’

She shrugged. ‘Possibly. I won’t tell anyone, but I can’t vouch for McKeown. Might be time to do a bit of sweet-talking in that direction. Or buy him a pint in Cafferty’s.’ She looked at Kirby. He knew he was one of her favourite people. ‘But I can’t say what the McGoverns will do when they find out.’

‘I don’t hold out much hope of sweetening McKeown up. There’s not enough sugar in the world for that.’

‘That might be the case, Kirby, but I have every faith in you.’

Lottie threw a lingering eye at the photos she had saved to her computer and wondered if the answer to everything was contained among them. But first things first. They had a witness. She grabbed her bag and coat and left the detective patting his pocket for his elusive cigar.

84

The first thing Lottie noticed about the Moorland estate was how close it was to the rear of the cinema complex, even though it was ringed by hedges and fenced off. The second thing was the affluence it presented. Two-storey houses, all painted the same pastel yellow, with large ground-floor windows on either side of smart grey doors. The third thing she noticed was that the McGoverns’ house didn’t fit in. The walls seemed sad, the door in need of a rub of a cloth to wipe away dirt and dust. All the windows had their curtains or blinds drawn tightly. Keeping something out? Or in?

Before knocking, she did a hasty Google search about the estate.

‘I don’t believe it.’

‘What?’ Lei asked.

‘Moorland was built by Gordon Collins.’

‘He seems to have a finger in every pie in this town.’

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