‘Put bluntly, they failed him.’ She turned around to face him. ‘O’Connor, you would make me feel a whole lot more comfortable if you would just sit down.’
‘I don’t want to sit down.’
‘Suit yourself.’
Reluctantly, he sat opposite her again.
Kate continued. ‘What did you get on the statements from Amelia’s family and friends?’
‘Other than physical characteristics and an interest in swimming, Amelia and Caroline seem to be polls apart. Amelia was extremely confident, happy, no underlying weight issues or anything else, quite the extrovert.’
Kate thought for a few seconds before speaking again.
‘He’s made a progression, O’Connor. Amelia looked right, but wasn’t. He got closer to Caroline, believed her more suitable.’
‘So when he abducted her, he expected what?’
‘Time together, I think, but the girl panicked. He wouldn’t have liked that. It explains the frenzied attack, totally at odds with how he killed Amelia.’
‘So what’s his next move?’
‘Depends.’
‘On what?’
‘Well, on him for a start. He has a pattern, a logic that makes sense to him. But of the two victims, Caroline is the key.’
‘Why are you so sure?’
‘He gave her elevated status – the choice of location, the crucifix. He wanted it to be perfect.’
‘Perfect? Everything is far from fucking perfect. By the way, Nolan’s told Rohan to release the stuff about the ribbons and the plaiting to the public; as of now it’s live on the public airways.’
‘A bit of a risk.’
‘We don’t have an option. Right. So Kate—’
‘I know what you’re going to say, O’Connor. You want my next report as of yesterday.’
‘You’re great at reading minds, I’ll give you that. I think it’s good that Nolan has released the information on the ribbons and the plaiting. Someone out there knows something. Just because we can’t connect the dots doesn’t mean someone else can’t.’
Cronly Lodge
STEVE HUGHES WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THE OLD CARINA in the drive for the second time in a week. He wondered if the new lord of the manor was planning on calling more frequently. If that was his intention, then he’d better pay one last visit inside; otherwise he might not get another opportunity to look after his unfinished business in there. He was supposed to do the garden maintenance on Tuesdays, but with another job arranged in the town, he’d figured he could get it out of the way early. Still, there was no point in doing it with Cronly there; he didn’t want to give him something else to moan about.
Returning a couple of hours later when the coast was clear, Steve wasn’t surprised to see the curtains pulled over in all the ground-floor rooms, this being the new owner’s way. Cronly had fitted bolts on the inside of the doors downstairs, so entry through the kitchen was a non-runner, but Steve still had his keys to the double locks at the front, compliments of old Mrs Cronly. The old bat was nearly as odd as the son, but she’d been friendly to him over the years. Steve reckoned she had a soft spot for his charm. He heard plenty of stories from Ollie Gilmartin about her, each one better than the last. Apparently, she used to be easy on the eye, and easy with other things as well. Rumour had it that the son was illegitimate, the father a priest who ended up high ranking in the Church.
No doubt at the time it was a right scandal, but Mrs Cronly wasn’t a woman to go hiding under a rock. According to Ollie Gilmartin, most reckoned the money came from the Church in the end. The house had been in ruins in the seventies, owned by the bank in all but name. It would have taken a lot to get a debt like that off your back and, according to Mrs Flood, it was when she thought she’d lose the house altogether that she’d packed herself and the boy off to Tuscany with one aim – to get money, any way possible. Whatever the truth behind it all, Mrs Flood told him that after Alison Cronly and her son came back from Italy, money was never a problem again.
Steve knew the son didn’t like him, and as far as Steve was concerned, the feeling was mutual. Cronly would have assumed the only key in Steve’s possession was for the back kitchen door, which was no doubt the reason he’d put those bolts on and changed the lock. Still, he was insulting his intelligence if he thought a couple of extra locks downstairs would keep him out of the house. Even if he hadn’t been given keys by the mother, he’d still have got inside.