Page 95 of Making a Killing

On the call, DS A. Asante

JH:Hello – Sergeant Asante? Joel Hudrick.

AA:Thank you for making the time on a Sunday.

JH:You’re welcome, sir. So, I’ve been passed the file on Robin Tierney.

AA:I’ve spoken to UK Border Control and they have her entering the country on June 7th – does that tally with your records?

JH:[sound of keyboard tapping]

Yes, sir, it does. She flew out of LAX on an overnight flight on the 6th.

AA:What else can you tell me about her?

JH:I’ll send you over some details, but it looks like the family are from Colorado. Ray Tierneywas a local State Trooper and Alice Tierney was a stay-at-home mom. Mr Tierney is now working in security, and looks from this like they’ve moved to a town just outside Boulder.

AA:Are there other children?

JH:Two daughters and a son. Mackenzie, born 1997, Terri, 1998, and Joseph, 2007. I also have a death record for Joseph on March 5th, 2012. Road traffic accident. Five years old. That’s tough, real tough.

AA:And Robin?

JH:Graduated high school with a GPA of 3.6 then got accepted on a political science program at Colorado State, after which she did a Masters in Journalism at UCLA, graduating in 2021.

AA:Interesting.

JH:As for employment –

[more tapping]

She had about a year with theLA Times, but left in early 2023.

AA:Nothing after that?

JH:Well, she could have gone freelance, which gets complicated, as I’d need to dig out the tax filings, and if she routed it all through an LLC –

AA:It’s fine, we’ll go with what you’ve given me for now.

JH:You said you have a positive identification of the remains?

AA:Based on the dental implant, yes. There’s also quite a distinctive tattoo. I’ll send over an image. I assume you’ll want local police to inform the parents?

JH:Yes, I’ll get that in motion. And I’m guessing you’ll want to speak to them thereafter?

AA:About what she was doing here, yes. Right now we have neither a suspect nor a motive, so anything they can tell us could be vital. We’d also be grateful for any help you can give usin obtaining her phone records. I appreciate there’s a process we have to go through but anything you can do to speed things up -

JH:I can certainly help to expedite that.

AA:Thank you. And I’ll let you know if we need that tax information.

JH:You’re welcome. Enjoy your day.

***

Ray Tierney is a wiry man with thinning hair and a slight nervous tic in one eye. Not what Triona Bradley would have expected from a former State Trooper, but she’s willing to admit she may watch a bit too much American TV. He doesn’t blur his background so they can see the room behind him: magnolia-bland walls, framed pictures of each of his children, the youngest when he was still a baby. The son they must have been longing for after three girls – three girls they gave boyish names, as if they were only dry runs. Joseph’s photo has a pressed flower in the frame, giving it an uneasy funereal quality. They’re going to have to do that a second time now, thinks Bradley, the poor bastards.

‘Can you hear me?’ asks Ray, shouting a little; maybe he’s slightly deaf or maybe he just doesn’t trust his technology.

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