Page 119 of Three Widows

‘I’ll bring Garda Lei or Garda Brennan with me. Let Boyd know about Amy and then contact Bowen Solicitors to find out why she left her job.’

Garda Lei was the only one who was apparently at a loose end, so Lottie nabbed him to accompany her to Herbal Heaven.

At the shop, she pushed in the door, relieved to find it unlocked. She’d been worried Orla might have disappeared again.

The bell tinkled as she stepped inside, Garda Lei following close behind.

‘Gosh, the smell is awesome,’ he said. ‘Look at all those tubs of vitamins. I’d be floating if I took the half of them, and—’

‘That’s great, but I need you to be quiet.’ She moved quickly and immediately realised that the shop was empty.

The door at the rear was slightly ajar. She crept forward. ‘Orla? Are you here?’

‘Don’t think she is,’ Lei said.

‘I can see that.’ She flicked a switch. Light flooded the little shelved room and seemed to heighten the herbal scents.

‘That looks like ground-up leaves in that mortar bowl with the pestle.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Just do.’

She pulled on gloves, lifted a brown paper bag from one of the shelves and sniffed. It was the overriding scent in the room. She held it under his nose.

He inhaled the scent. ‘Lavender. Used as a sleep remedy.’

Returning the bag to the shelf, she noticed a narrow door between two cupboards.

‘Another storeroom?’ he offered.

‘Or an exit.’

She tugged the handle. No movement. She pushed. The door swung open. She stepped into a small alley. Empty, except for two wheelie bins. One for rubbish and the other for recycling. She lifted the lids to find they were both half full of what they were supposed to contain. Dropping the lids, she moved along the side of the building towards the street.

‘Anyone could come in this way,’ Lei said from behind her.

‘Or leave.’

Back in the shop, she looked around to see if there was any evidence of a struggle. Not finding anything unusual, she tried Orla’s number. Silence, except for Lei’s breathing. She figured he was trying to rein in his need to be constantly saying something.

‘Orla didn’t leave in a hurry.’ She rummaged under the counter. ‘Neither her bag nor her phone is here.’

‘Where do you think she is?’

‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t still be standing here, would I?’

‘Suppose not.’

She watched as he meandered between the shelves. Had Orla really left the shop voluntarily? Would she have gone without locking up?

Wiping a bead of sweat from the bridge of her nose, she realised that the place was sweltering. Back in the little room, she searched for a thermostat to turn off the heat. On the wall to her right, just inside the door, she found a switch and flicked it. A crash sounded from the shop just as a panel, the size of a narrow door, slid open before her.

‘Lei? Are you okay?’ She didn’t want to see what carnage he’d caused, and the space in front of her looked more interesting.

Without waiting for his reply, she moved into the darkness. She couldn’t find a light switch. A knot of fear tightened in her chest.

‘Lei! Quick. I need you in here.’

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