He sighed. ‘Jackie’s back.’
So that was it. If anyone could drive Boyd to drink, it was Jackie. Why hadn’t he divorced her? He must still have a spark for her. If she were Boyd, it’d be a knife, not a spark. But she wasn’t, and Boyd had a soft heart. Shit, she thought, I should have warned him about McNally. Now she felt really bad.
‘You saw her?’
‘Met her, actually.’
‘What does that mean? Was lover boy with her?’ she asked, without thinking. Kirby still hadn’t found any sign of Jamie McNally. Maybe Boyd could get some information on the criminal’s whereabouts through Jackie.
‘Wait a minute. Did you know McNally was back?’ he said.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you until we were sure. Superintendent Corrigan had information that he returned to Ireland last Wednesday. Kirby was trying to locate him. To date he’s come up empty.’ Shit, she was making a balls of this. ‘So… you don’t know if McNally’s with her or not?’
‘To be honest, Lottie, I don’t give a shit.’
‘Rubbish’
‘Ah, just give me a break. I don’t want to go over this.’
‘Why? Don’t be an eejit. Three years ago Jackie broke your heart and nearly lost you your job.’
‘I couldn’t give her what she wanted. It was all my fault.’
‘Yes, for marrying her in the first instance.’
‘That was my choice.’
‘And you still have a choice. Stay away from her.’
‘Lottie?’
‘Yes?’
‘Mind your own business.’
‘Okay.’ Lottie relented. For now. Perhaps she should have warned Boyd that McNally was back. Bad judgement on her part? No, she’d been trying to protect him.
‘Will you find out where we can get a list of the residents at Dan Russell’s facility?’ she asked. Boyd looked like he needed an OCD-type job to get him back concentrating on work.
‘I’ll check with the Department of Justice. Though if the facility is outsourced, I’m not sure they’ll be able to help.’
‘Try it anyway.’
With a sigh, Boyd nodded.
‘They have a freelance language tutor in the DPC. George O’Hara…’ she began.
‘Don’t even think about it.’
‘Okay so,’ Lottie relented. ‘About the dress we found in Maeve Phillips’s room,’ she said. ‘From the code on the tag, Lynch discovered it’s only available online. She’s checking with the company now. Hopefully we can trace the transaction.’
Boyd sat up straight. ‘We’ll never trace it.’
‘Be optimistic. There’s enough pessimists around without you turning into one.’ She slammed the desk.
‘Got something!’ Maria Lynch interrupted them, dragging a page from the printer. ‘The dress was bought from Dinkydress on April first. Paid for by credit card. They won’t say who owns the card, but it was delivered by courier to Maeve Phillips, 251 Mellow Grove, on the fifth.’
‘She had that dress over a month and never wore it. Wonder what it was bought for? Any credit cards in her own name?’ Lottie asked, reading the page.
‘She hasn’t even got a bank account,’ Lynch said.
‘Someone bought it for her. Might be a boyfriend. See if you can get the company to release the name.’
‘How?’
‘Make something up. I think whoever bought that dress may be Maeve’s mystery boyfriend. If we find this boyfriend, we might find Maeve. We need to be concentrating on the murder of the woman found under the street.’
‘Will I hand this missing person case over to someone else, so?’ Lynch asked.
‘No. We need to make it high priority. Find out if Maeve Phillips has a passport, and I want to talk to this friend of hers, Emily. I need to be sure Maeve’s disappearance isn’t linked to the murder.’
‘Hardly likely, is it?’ Boyd said.
‘Ticking the box,’ Lottie said.
‘As long as it’s not a wooden one with a brass cross on top,’ Kirby said, raising his head from behind a mountain of paperwork.
‘That was anything but funny.’ Lottie ran her fingers through her hair and wondered if Kirby had a point.
* * *
Emily Coyne was chatty and full of life. Lottie caught up with her at the Parkway Hotel, where she worked afternoons, after school.
Flouncing onto a chair in front of the two detectives, Emily’s eyes shone with excitement through pink-rimmed spectacles. Auburn highlights in her curly hair flashed every time she turned her head, which was often.
‘Thanks for talking to us,’ Lottie said.
The girl stared. ‘Oh, Mrs Parker. I hardly recognised you. How’s Chloe?’
Lottie wondered if Chloe was in Emily’s year at school, and if so, did she know Maeve?
‘She’s fine, thanks.’
‘Cool,’ Emily said.
‘We’re concerned about your friend Maeve Phillips.’
‘Maeve? Why? What she do?’ The curls remained stationary long enough for the curve of her mouth to dip downwards. ‘Nothing serious, I hope.’
‘We’re trying to locate her,’ Lottie said, feeling slightly dizzy at the girl’s constant gesticulations. ‘Any idea where she might be?’
Emily puffed out her cheeks and widened her eyes. ‘At home?’
‘She’s not there. Do you think she might be with her father?’
‘That yoke. She hates him.’
Lottie digested that for a moment, then asked, ‘When did you last see Maeve?’
More facial contortions and flicking of long nails before Emily said, ‘Let me see. Last Friday at school.’
‘Didn’t she stay over at your house for the weekend?’
‘No. She was all excited, like. I think she has a boyfriend. Said she’d see me Monday with all the gossip. But she hasn’t been to school this week. Oh shit. I hope she’s all right.’
Lottie said, ‘Is it unusual for her to miss school?’
Emily made a face. ‘Yes, it is actually. I should have been more worried about her, but I’ve been so busy revising and working here and all.’ She dropped her head. ‘Maeve rarely misses school, which is odd seeing as how her mum is…’ She paused. ‘I don’t mean to disrespect her mother, but she drinks a lot.’
‘I know that.’
‘I tried ringing Maeve. Text and Snapchat too, but I got no reply on anything. I wasn’t concerned about her, though. Should I have been? Do you think she’s all right?’
Ignoring the girl’s enquiries, Lottie asked, ‘Do you know anything about Maeve’s boyfriend?’
‘She only hinted she was seeing someone. Never mentioned a name or anything. I asked but she wouldn’t tell me.’
‘And you’re sure she hasn’t been in contact with you since Friday?’ Lottie had been hoping Maeve had stayed with Emily, or at least told her where she was going.
‘I only saw her briefly then. We’re in TY together but the class splits up on Fridays for our project.’
‘TY?’ Boyd asked.
‘Transition year,’ Lottie explained. ‘After they complete their Junior Certificate, students have a choice of taking an extra year for projects.’ She turned back to Emily. ‘What kind of project are you doing?’
‘Helping people understand languages a bit better. All boring stuff really.’
‘And Maeve’s doing this too?’
‘Yes, and she was all excited on Friday. Like I said, I don’t know why.’