Page 42 of Three Widows

Kirby’s head shot up. ‘It’s weird you should ask.’

‘Your favourite word,’ Boyd smirked. ‘Why is it weird?’

‘Believe it or not, I met his wife this morning. She asked me for an update on her husband’s disappearance, which was a year ago tomorrow.’

‘You were talking to Orla Keating this morning?’

‘Yes. Why are you asking about Tyler?’

‘I was searching the system for his wife, not him. She was with Éilis Lawlor last night in Fallon’s. Both women went to the taxi rank. I’ve asked Garda Lei to check with the taxi drivers to see if we can identify who brought Éilis home.’

‘But the babysitter confirmed she got back safely. Her bag and phone are there.’

‘The driver may have overheard something. A phone call, maybe? She might have left the house later to meet someone.’

‘Her phone has been checked. It hadn’t been used since six forty-five yesterday evening, when she phoned for a taxi to bring her out. No other calls after that, until her son rang Bianca this morning.’

‘Anything else turn up on the phone?’

‘Gary’s working on it.’

‘Back to the cold case. What do you think happened to Tyler Keating?’

Kirby filled Boyd in, which saved him trawling through the file.

‘It’s a mystery. No body. No car. No evidence of foul play at the house or his office. He never got on the flight to Liverpool. No activity on his credit cards. You know the score. The man disappeared into the ether.’

‘You think he’s dead?’

‘He must be.’

‘He could have had a second passport and got a flight from somewhere else.’

‘We trawled the airport security footage. He didn’t go through Dublin airport anyway.’

‘What about Knock or Shannon? Cork? The ferries, even?’

‘All checked. Nothing for that day, or any day for weeks after his disappearance.’

‘He might have been gone before he was reported missing. Says here his wife didn’t call us till five days after his supposed flight.’

‘She thought he was in the UK at a conference. It was only when he failed to arrive home that she started to worry.’

‘She never tried to ring him in that time?’

‘Her phone records showed she called a few times but got no answer.’

‘And his phone? Did you track its GPS?’

‘I’m not an eejit, Boyd. We did all the checks. His phone was dead. Last place his GPS registered was the long-term car park at Dublin airport. But we didn’t find him, his phone or the car there. Or anywhere else, for that matter.’

‘Did you suspect his wife at all?’

‘Number one suspect. Boyd, there’s no point raking it up again. She was questioned multiple times. Said she talked to Tyler before he left and then went back to bed.’

‘But you only have her word that he went to the airport that morning.’

Kirby ran a hand through his bushy mop of hair. ‘We carried out a full and thorough investigation.’

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