‘No comment.’ He lowered his head and walked faster.
‘Has your wife removed the Lawson children to an unknown destination to protect them from you?’
He swallowed, bile rising in his throat. ‘No comment.’
‘Have you been named as a suspect in your niece’s disappearance?’
She had been building towards that question ever since she wrote her first news report. He should have been prepared for the assault, yet it snapped the last reserves of his composure.
‘I haven’t been named as a suspect in my niece’s disappearance.’ He wasn’t aware he was shouting until he saw her step quickly back from him. ‘If you dare print otherwise, I’ll drag you through the libel courts and reduce that fucking rag you represent to pulp.’
‘Thank you for your cooperation, Mr Lawson.’ She smiled and, once again, ran her tongue over her teeth. The burly photographer loped in front of her, his scuttling sideways movements reminding Karl of a crab. Then they were gone, chasing a deadline and a scoop he had handed to them on a plate.
Later that evening, the liaison officer called to his house. She battled her way through the journalists, ignoring the microphones and recorders that were thrust towards her. Once inside the door, her shoulders slumped.
‘Your reaction to Amanda Bowe has meant some very unwelcome publicity.’ She followed Karl into the kitchen. ‘Have you seen the latest from Capital Eye?’
‘No.’
‘Amanda Bowe managed to file a piece on the press conference for the late edition.’ She took the tabloid from her briefcase and handed it to him.
Fears Grow as Search for Connie Continues
Amanda Bowe
The Garda Press Office remain tight-lipped over yesterday’s raid on the home of a local Glenmoore resident. The raid was in connection to the schoolgirl Connie Lawson (13) who has been missing for four days. This dramatic development is being played down by gardaí, who refuse to confirm whether the piece of intimate apparel that was removed from this house belongs to the missing schoolgirl.
Connie’s distraught parents, Justin, 37, and Jenna, 35, held a press conference in the Glenmoore Grand Hotel this afternoon. In a heart-wrenching statement, Jenna pleaded with her daughter to return home. ‘We love you, Constance,’ she said. ‘Please, please come back to us. We’re waiting with open arms to welcome you. You’re not in trouble. We’re not angry. But we are heartbroken.’ She was unable to continue at this point and was comforted by her husband.
Despite her distress, Jenna kindly took time to cooperate with Capital Eye and revealed it was her daughter’s bra that was removed by gardaí from the searched house.
The stress of this search has taken a severe toll on those close to Constance. After the press conference, Karl Lawson, the controversial editor of Hitz magazine and uncle of the missing teen, made this statement. ‘I haven’t been named as a suspect in my niece’s disappearance. If you dare to print otherwise, I’ll drag you through the libel courts and reduce that f****** rag you represent to pulp.’
Hatred towards the journalist curdled his stomach. He twisted the tabloid into a skein and flung it down on the table.
Shauna ignored the gesture. ‘Just so you know, Jenna has no memory of speaking to Amanda Bowe at the press conference.’
‘She nodded when she was asked a question,’ Karl replied. ‘That was all she needed. Can you explain to me how I’ve gone from being Constance’s favourite uncle to being a suspect—?’
‘You’re not a suspect,’ Shauna interrupted him firmly.
‘Not a suspect?’ His mouth was parched, his throat clamping. No wonder he couldn’t swallow. A noose was being tied around his neck and it was tightening by the hour. ‘My house has been searched by gardaí and that journalist is destroying me.’
‘She hasn’t named you as a suspect. You’re the one who responded to her by making that statement. I asked you not to speak to the media.’
‘I know, I know.’
‘We’re still hopeful that we’ll find Constance alive so it’s essential that we investigate anything that could be relevant to her disappearance,’ said Shauna. ‘Yesterday, you were just helping us—’
‘With your enquiries. Yes, I know the jargon. If what I experienced yesterday wasn’t an official interrogation then I dread to think what the real thing must be like.’
‘Believe me, you’ll know the difference if that happens.’ Her polite, professional mask was slipping. Did she have a daughter the same age as Constance? Did she see him as a killer? A monster who invaded the safe perimeters parents built around their children?
‘We’re searching for your niece but you are becoming the story, Karl,’ she continued. ‘It’s imperative that you don’t engage again with her or any other member of the media.’
‘I’m a prisoner in my own home when all I want to do is search for Constance.’
‘The search for your niece is in the hands of experts. You’re a distraction when the focus needs to be on finding her.’
‘I must talk to Justin and Jenna. They’re not taking my calls.’
‘Stop ringing them. They’ll talk to you when this publicity dies down.’
‘Why not now? They can’t believe—’
‘They’re too upset. It’s understandable, under the circumstances, and Olga Nicholls has invited them to stay with her until Constance has been found.’
The solicitor’s house, with its Palladian-style pillars and long, elegant windows, had belonged to generations of the Nicholls family. Once, it had sat in its own spacious grounds, but the rolling pastures had been sold in the eighties to a property developer, who built the Cherrywood housing estate on them. The house remained separated from its neighbours by thick walls, sheltering trees and high black gates, operated by remote control. It would offer Jenna and Justin protection from torturous questions and flashing cameras until Constance was found.
Karl had no such protection. Someone was leaking information to Amanda Bowe. The other journalists were just carrion, feeding off the entrails. Even the broadsheets, the language carefully couched. No accusations. Just speculations. Innuendo that he was powerless to battle. His sense of dread increased as he read the latest online edition of the Daily Orb.
Constance Influenced by Older Man
Eric Walker
As the search for missing schoolgirl, Constance Lawson, 13, continues, gardaí refuse to comment on whether or not an older man, known to the missing teen, has been questioned about his relationship with her. The removal of a bra belonging to Constance during a house search suggests that she had recently visited him.
‘Constance is a very trusting young girl and easily influenced,’ claimed Maria Barnes, a close family friend. ‘She used to visit him at what I considered inappropriate times. I saw them parked outside her house once in the early hours. I debated telling her parents but one is reluctant to interfere in other people’s business. In the light of what’s happened, I’m heartbroken I ignored the warning signs.’
Chapter Nine
Day Five