Page 142 of The Guilty Girl

A shrug and pout. ‘She must have asked him.’

‘Lucy was your best friend. I’m sure you know more.’ Leaning her hands on the table, Lottie stared into the girl’s eyes.

‘Be careful, Ivy,’ Oscar said. ‘She’ll make you say stuff you don’t want to say.’

‘Shut up, you eejit,’ Ivy said.

‘Fuck off,’ Oscar replied, but without conviction.

The boy was afraid of his sister.

Lottie quickly formulated her approach. Ivy’s brother was involved with the same gang as Jake, and Ivy was the murdered girl’s best friend. She’d have to launch an attack based on her suspicions and sprinkle it with a touch of the truth.

‘Ivy, I believe you knew Jake Flood. You told Lucy he’d work the bar, isn’t that right? Why did you want him there? To sell drugs to your friends? To kill Lucy? To drug Hannah? Get her to take the blame when she couldn’t remember?’

‘Are you for real?’ Ivy made to stand.

‘Sit down!’

‘You can’t make me. Oscar, we’re leaving.’

‘You two are going nowhere until you tell me about your roles in two murders.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Ivy sat, rolled up her sleeves and folded her arms. ‘Are you on something?’

Her expression chilled Lottie. For a second she wished she actually was on something stronger than bloody paracetamol.

‘Ivy, you knew Jake Flood was involved in your brother’s gang. Kids riding around on bikes, accosting other kids and handing out colourful pills like they were M&Ms. Enticing them, hooking them, turning them into addicts while someone, perhaps you, got rich. I’m talking about children, Ivy. Do you see yourself as some sort of Fagin?’

Ivy turned up her nose, her mouth curved in an ugly sneer. ‘You’re nuts.’

‘Who is your supplier?’

‘Supplier? I have nothing to do with anything concerning Jake Flood or this twat beside me.’

‘Bitch,’ Oscar muttered.

Ivy thumped him on the arm. ‘Shut your face.’

Now that she had both of them unsettled, Lottie changed the direction of her questions.

‘Oscar, it could be your bicycle chain that was used to harm Jake. Did you kill him?’

The boy’s mouth flatlined as his sister pulled him close and whispered in his ear. A cold smirk appeared on Ivy’s upturned lips. ‘We’re saying nothing else to you.’

A trail of black spots danced in front of Lottie’s eyes. She really should have someone in with her to formally interview these two. She needed their parents.

‘I’ll be back.’

She rushed out of the room and leaned against the closed door. Her body shuddered as she tried to shake off the feeling that there was something malevolent in the interview room. Was it coming from one of the Jones kids?

Or both?

Garda Lei agreed to sit in with the two teenagers while Lottie told Garda Brennan to find their parents. There was no point in discussing anything further with them without an adult present. It’d mean solicitors, but she could handle that. Better to have all the t’s crossed.

She was about to fetch her keys for a quick trip to the hospital to visit Sharon and check on Rose when Gary called her upstairs to his workstation.

‘Looks like you’ve been entertaining an army with soft drinks and fast food, Gary.’

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