Donoghue got the session underway. ‘Right, starting with you Pringle, any more on that car from the canal? Our killer needs to be getting from A to B, and he ain’t flying.’
‘We have a second witness who saw the Carina, didn’t get registration number either, but we have a year – 1994. We’re running checks on tyre markings and paint used on that particular year and model.’
‘Good, let’s go with it. Get a picture of the make and model out, who knows what it might bring in. No county details for the registration?’
‘No, just the year.’
‘Right, McCann, I want everybody interviewed on the estate where Amelia Spain lived, or anywhere that young girl went. The guys from Crumlin will work with you,’ he nodded to the crew seated up the front. ‘If you need DI Hyland or any of the others from Harcourt Square to row in, just ask O’Connor.’
‘On it,’ McCann said with a curt nod.
‘Now, O’Connor, what had Morrison to say about the second girl?’
‘He’s doing the postmortem now, but preliminary examination shows the killing was similar but different. The rigor wasn’t forced this time, but that was most probably because of the speed of the burial. The girl was killed by asphyxiation most likely, same as Caroline, but this time a ligature was used, looks like a narrow cable of some kind, no rope marks. No blows to the head, but bruising to face and wrists.’
‘And your profiler, what’s she come up with?’
‘The killer is a watcher. Hanley’s working on an area under the bridge in Harold’s Cross, opposite the first girl’s family home. Looks like he may have been friendly with her beforehand, the techs are looking for prints from a book of poetry he could have given her.’
‘Poetry? A cultured killer. Fucking fantastic. Just what I wanted to hear.’
‘We’ll run whatever prints we get through AFIS and, if there’s a match, we’ll find it.’ O’Connor hoped that the Automatic Fingerprint Identification system would find a match – they needed a break, and quickly. He continued, ‘Also Jessica Barry has opened up. She’s putting a photofit together with DS Campbell.’
‘Good, glad the security’s been increased on the girl. I want that photofit as of yesterday.’ Donoghue put O’Connor’s name down against that particular task as well. ‘Anything else?’
‘McCann and Hyland have spoken to Matt Long, the farmer who owns the site where the first girl was found.’
Chief Superintendent Nolan looked around the room for Hyland and found him at the back. ‘Well, Hyland, what stories did the old man have from his sick bed?’
‘Said he saw a guy hanging around his old family place, the ruins near the burial site.’
‘And that was okay with him, an obliging farmer, is he?’
‘He thought he was one of those hillwalkers. Both times he saw him was over the weekend, says the guy was very smart looking, not the kind you’d find milking cows.’
‘Age?’
‘Couldn’t be sure, his sight isn’t too great.’
‘Brilliant. Right, get what you can out of him and if it bears any resemblance to the fit Jessica Barry is putting together, I want to know about it. O’Connor, I assume you’re running a check on all hillwalking clubs.’
‘Yes, and on the second swimming pool in Crumlin where Amelia went swimming. Both girls were excellent swimmers.’
‘Grand,’ Nolan said, nodding, ‘this web is getting itself a lot of legs, but I don’t want anything missed. DI Donoghue was asking you about your profiler; other than the leads picked up at Caroline’s home, what else?’
‘Kate narrowed the search area for the second missing girl, which saved us a shitload of time.’
‘Good, you know how I hate to waste taxpayers’ money.’
‘She believes him to be a loner, very particular, capable of keeping a calm head. Someone who can gain people’s trust easily, he won’t appear threatening. The ritual burials are personal to him, but she thinks the disparity between the two locations and the speed by which he made his move on Amelia means, as I said before, that he considered her a loose end. Either way, bottom line, he is capable of killing again, so he’ll look elsewhere now.’
‘When do we get her first report?’
‘This evening.’
‘Right, make sure Donoghue and I see it the moment you have it. And that Innes guy, what’s the story with him?’
‘Rock solid alibi for both abductions. CCIU have asked us to back off, they have their own operation running on him, and some of his friends.’
‘And other sex offenders in the Dublin area and beyond?’
‘I have the list, but none of them operate anyting like this guy. Dr Pearson doesn’t think his motivation is sexual.’
‘No? What’s her theory then?’
‘Probably best to wait for her report, but our man would have had ample opportunity with Amelia, if that had been his intention.’
‘I thought you said Ms Pearson figured Amelia to be a loose end? Maybe he was, as she said, particular? Gunning, where are you?’