Page 68 of Three Widows

‘You’re a player, Sam. I told you before, I don’t like how you treat your wife and kids.’

‘My family has nothing to do with you.’

‘Yes, they have. I’m the cause of how you treat them.’

‘Don’t get up on your high horse. If it wasn’t you, it’d be someone else.’ Fuck! Now he’d gone and put his size twelve in it.

She twisted ninety degrees on the seat and he could feel the heat of her stare burning the side of his face. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the road.

‘We are done, Sam. Finished. Finito. I’ll do this search with you and then I don’t ever want to be alone with you in a car or the office or anywhere else for that matter. Your attitude makes me sick. I really don’t know how I could have been so blinkered. I was warned often enough. Just drive, and don’t talk or even look at me.’

He remained silent, desperately trying to put a damper on his temper. Someone had got to her. It wasn’t his wife, because as far as she knew, the affair was over. It had to be Kirby. He would beat ten shades of shite out of him. He clutched the steering wheel so tight, his knuckles turned white. The silence dragged on as his boiling anger threatened to consume him.

‘Where are we going, anyhow?’ she asked eventually.

He didn’t trust himself to answer.

The building was the smallest of three located on a square plot of land just outside Ragmullin. It was less than two kilometres from where Jennifer’s body had been found on the waste ground at Ballyglass Business Park. Two of the units housed a furniture showroom and a shop selling plants and garden accessories. The one he was interested in was used as a lock-up. He eyed the roller security door and wondered where he could source a key to enter.

Martina flung off her seat belt and exited the car before he had the engine switched off. He sighed, unfolded his long legs, and followed her into the furniture shop.

She was speaking to a man at a desk inside a small glassed-in office.

‘And you haven’t seen Jennifer O’Loughlin around here in how long, Ted?’ she asked.

‘Oh, must be two months now. But I don’t see all the comings and goings around here. That’s the wife’s forte,’ he chuckled.

‘Do you have keys to her lock-up, by any chance? We need to search it.’

McKeown stood back and let Martina work her charm. He felt miffed, because he was the one who had sourced the address in the first place.

‘Jennifer gave me a spare key in case the alarm went off when she was at work or away. I’ll have to look for it.’

As he started to mooch through drawers, McKeown stepped forward. ‘Did Jennifer go away often, Ted?’

‘Don’t know. I never had to respond to an alarm for her, anyhow. It could be one of those dummy alarms. To put off would-be burglars.’

‘When did you last see her?’

The plump man, who looked over seventy, wheezed as he searched. ‘I’ve already told your colleague it was more than two months ago. Didn’t think it’d be the last time I’d lay eyes on the young woman. Do you have any idea who killed her?’

‘I was about to ask you the same question,’ McKeown said.

The man stood bolt upright, rage threading the veins on his cheeks. ‘That sounds like some sort of accusation. I barely knew her.’

‘No need to get all defensive. Was anyone bothering her? Did she ever confide any fears?’

‘We hardly spoke. She must have been here in the evenings. Don’t think I saw her much during the day.’

‘It must be very dark out here in the evenings.’

‘All the units have sensor lights on the outer walls.’ The man kept rummaging, pulling out docket books and screwdrivers. ‘Damn nuisance with foxes and badgers. That garden centre next door attracts all sorts of animals.’

‘It’s the two-legged sort we’re interested in.’ McKeown twisted his hands into fists in his pockets to stem his impatience. ‘Any sign of that key yet?’

‘If I’d found it, I wouldn’t be still searching, would I?’ Ted looked up before opening another drawer. ‘Ah. This is what I wanted.’ He took out a small tin box. It was locked. ‘The missus might have the key to it. I’ll give her a shout.’

‘Give it here.’ McKeown walked into the cramped office. He snapped the box from Ted’s hand. Grabbing one of the screwdrivers, he jimmied the lock and it flicked open.

---