Page 153 of Three Widows

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Boyd sat in Lottie’s office and told her that Jackie and Sergio were gone.

‘Jesus, Boyd, you can’t deal with this in isolation. Why didn’t you call me?’

‘It totally wiped me out. I’m trying to process it. I’m devastated. Sergio…’

‘You need to look after yourself. Still no answer from her phone, then?’

‘It’s dead now. She probably dumped it and bought a new one. Jackie knows how to disappear.’

‘Feck that. Together we’ll find her and your little boy. You must be going through hell.’

‘I am, but thanks. We will find them, but first we need to track down this murderer.’

She filled him in on the two interviews that had taken place after he’d left yesterday evening.

‘My money is on either Kathleen Foley or her daughter,’ he said. ‘Helena hasn’t been sighted at all since Orla drove off in her car with her.’

‘Since I talked to Orla yesterday morning at Herbal Heaven, she hasn’t been seen either. And then we found Amy battered and broken there. Either Orla or Helena could be the killer. Or perhaps even Frankie Bardon. He isn’t off the hook, though the time on his till receipt means he couldn’t have been at the lake when his husband’s body was dumped. I agree with you, we have to consider Kathleen Foley.’

‘You think she’d hurt her own daughter?’

‘I’m not sure. Who knows what she’s capable of.’

‘Motive?’

‘Money? Helena was losing it like she kept it in a sieve. Maybe Kathleen had had enough of bailing her out. Owen Dalton owed her money too. She had to borrow to invest. Now he’s dead.’

‘Maybe,’ Boyd said doubtfully, ‘but that doesn’t account for the other deaths. Jennifer and Éilis haven’t popped up on any financials that we’ve gone through so far. I’m thinking someone knew something they shouldn’t. Maybe they told the wrong person and had to be silenced.’

‘Complicated, but it’s another possibility.’ Lottie thought for a moment. ‘We need to draw up a search warrant for Kathleen’s house.’

‘On what grounds?’

‘The GPS on Tyler Keating’s car shows it was moved from somewhere close to her property to Jennifer O’Loughlin’s lock-up four weeks ago. And she was kept in a cold-storage room at some stage, because her body had evidence of frostbite.’

Boyd seemed to be considering that. ‘There were freezers in Herbal Heaven, but I didn’t see anything like that when I was at Kathleen’s house.’

‘Didn’t she say something about Tyler swindling her out of her home before she moved to where she is now? Could be another lie. She might still own it.’

‘That’s a long-drawn-out might.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know, Boyd. And tell Kirby I want a detailed report on what’s in those files found in the lock-up. I know he said at first glance they didn’t appear to be suspicious, but why were they hidden?’

‘I’ll lend him a hand.’

‘Do you think Tyler Keating is somehow involved in it all?’

Boyd shook his head. ‘He must be dead, otherwise he’d have surfaced by now.’

‘It’s simple enough to change your identity and disappear if you have the resources and know the kind of people who can help you arrange it. As you found with Jackie.’

‘Yeah, but his bank accounts haven’t been touched except for normal spending by his wife. Kirby checked that.’

‘Those are the accounts we know about. According to Kathleen Foley, he swindled a lot of people. He might have accounts in… the Cayman Islands… even a shell company. Get McKeown to check for those.’

‘Will do.’

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