Page 47 of Three Widows

‘Not until you just planted the idea slap-bang in the centre of my consciousness.’

Lottie felt like she was up against a seasoned negotiator. Orla had a question or an answer for everything. She leaned over the small, cluttered table and stared into the woman’s eyes, hazel flecked with black streaks. ‘How well did you know Jennifer O’Loughlin?’

‘Not that well. What happened to her?’ Orla grimaced, and Lottie noted her straight white teeth.

‘We are in the early stages of our investigation,’ Boyd said.

Lottie said, ‘She worked at Smile Brighter. Do you have your teeth done there?’

‘Yes, I do. Frankie Bardon usually treats me. He’s big into his meditation and yoga. He said I should take it up. I find it helps clear my mind.’

‘What’s the name of the studio you go to?’

‘Why do you want to know that?’

Jesus, but Orla Keating was hard work. ‘Did Éilis or Jennifer go to—’

‘SunUp studio. I know Éilis does.’

‘Thank you.’ Lottie stood, and felt the perspiration pool in her bra. She waited for Boyd to follow suit. Was it the little kitchen giving her claustrophobia, or its owner? Something definitely was.

Boyd loitered as she made her way through the narrow hallway to the front door. She heard him chatting with Orla, and crunched her hands into fists before shoving them into her pockets. Out of trouble.

‘Thanks for your time,’ he said. ‘Here’s my card. Mind yourself.’

‘You are so kind, thank you.’

Lottie caught the flirtation in Orla’s words. So much for her fear and horror at the death of someone she knew.

And if Boyd was the good cop, she must be the bad one.

29

At the station, Lottie found the state of her office less intimidating after the chaos of Orla Keating’s tiny kitchen. She kicked off her shoes, settled behind her desk and clicked into Gerry’s file to watch some more of the video he’d taken that morning at the scene where Jennifer’s body had been discovered.

‘What do you hope to find?’ Boyd asked, lounging at the door, eating from a tub of ice cream. He was making her hungry, and she realised she was actually starving.

‘I won’t know until I see it. If I see it.’

‘I need to pick up Sergio. Your Chloe is working tonight. You should call it a day.’

He knew more about her family than she did herself. ‘I don’t know what time it is, so how can I call it a… Look at this.’

He unfurled his long body away from the door jamb, dumped the carton in the bin and stood behind her, knocking over a tower of files that were stacked on the floor.

‘Don’t even think of picking them up,’ she warned.

‘I think my OCD might be cured.’ He grinned as he leaned in beside her. ‘Probably the Sergio effect.’

She loved how Boyd could laugh at himself.

‘What am I looking for?’ he said.

His warm breath on the back of her neck where she’d tied up her hair made her skin tingle, and she had to shake herself to concentrate on the screen. ‘Gerry scanned the camera over the entire area, including those showrooms you can see on the periphery.’

‘With you so far.’

‘See that one? There’s someone standing there looking straight over at the activity around Jennifer’s body.’

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