‘What choice do I have?’
Katie went to the door. Listened. She could hear Milot shouting at his game. Just like Sean.
Carter pleaded, ‘You have to let me take him.’
Chloe walked around the table, hurley under her arm. She tried ringing her mother again. Engaged. So much for contacting her any time she needed to.
‘I don’t get how they knew who you were. They even followed you to Dublin? It sounds made-up to me.’
‘You have to believe me. This man, when he rang me, he sounded like a guy who knows everything and everyone. He must have pull somewhere.’
‘Even so, you’re not getting Milot. Pretend you have him. Text and see what instructions you get.’
‘Are you mad? I don’t want my mum to die.’ He ran his hands through his hair, pulling at the roots.
‘We don’t want Milot to die either. I’m scared, but we have to think of something,’ Chloe said, thinking there had to be a way she could fix this.
‘Ring Boyd,’ Katie said.
Chloe tapped her contacts with a tremor in her fingers, found Boyd’s number and rang. This time the phone was answered.
‘Boyd, thank God. It’s Chloe here. I can’t reach Mam. Tell her to come home quickly. It’s urgent. Carter’s here. I’m scared.’ She could hear Boyd arguing with her mother. ‘Fuck this,’ she said, and hung up. Her phone pinged.
‘What’s that?’ Katie asked.
Chloe checked. ‘Shit, I thought I deleted this app. It’s just a Twitter notification.’ She handed the hurley to Katie. ‘Here, you hold this and don’t let him out of your sight. I’m going to check on Milot.’ She rushed up the stairs, stuffing the phone into her jeans pocket.
Seventy-Six
Waiting on the steps outside Andri Petrovci’s home for the SOCOs to arrive, Lottie took her phone out of her bag to ring Kirby. The display showed that she had two missed calls from Chloe. Before she could ring her daughter back, her phone chirped. Kirby.
‘What’s up?’ Lottie shielded her face from the sun with one hand. Boyd ran down the steps to give the two uniforms a talking-to.
‘The call to Petrovci’s boss Dermody telling him to go to the pump house was made via a pay-as-you-go,’ Kirby said.
‘Impossible to trace. What’s the good news?’
‘I cross-checked Petrovci’s contacts with Dermody’s. No matches.’
‘That’s the good news?’
‘No, but then I cross-referenced their calls. Incoming and outgoing.’
‘Lottie,’ Boyd shouted up the steps, holding his phone out to her.
‘Not now, Boyd.’ She turned back into the doorway. ‘Sorry, go ahead, Kirby.’
‘So what do you want me to do about it?’ Kirby asked.
‘You’ll have to repeat that. Someone with no manners was shouting at me.’
Boyd reached the top step, shoved his phone into her hand. ‘It’s Chloe. It’s urgent.’
Lottie took his phone. Had something happened? Her children had Boyd’s number for emergencies only. Oh my God, she thought. She’d never organised a watch on her house.
‘Chloe, hun, what’s the matter?’ Looking at Boyd, she said, ‘She’s gone. The line’s dead.’
Boyd said, ‘She sounded frantic. Do you know someone called Carter?’
‘That’s the social worker. I hope he hasn’t come for Milot already. I warned Katie not to let the boy go.’
‘She said she was scared. I’ll call round to your house now.’
‘No, I’ll go. You see what Kirby was on about. Then get your car and follow me.’
‘You’ve no car either.’
‘I’ll get Mutt or Jeff here to drive me. I’m sure the other one can watch a broken front door until SOCOs arrive. Oh, and when you speak to Kirby, get him to check Petrovci’s online history. There’s no laptop in there.’ She pointed back to the apartment. ‘He may have taken it with him or he might’ve used his phone.’
‘What for? Twitter?’
‘That and flights abroad. We need to work out where the hell he is.’
Lottie sat into the squad car, yelling instructions at the uniformed garda.
Boyd shouted, ‘And show Chloe a photo of Petrovci, if you have one.’
She pulled the door shut. Why hadn’t she thought of that before now?
* * *
Jumping out of the car, Lottie ran up the front path and was struggling to get her key in the door just as Katie opened it.
‘What’s wrong, Katie? Is Milot here? Where’s Chloe? Jesus, what are you doing with Sean’s hurley?’
‘Mam, slow down. Come inside.’
‘And what happened to your face?’ Lottie followed her into the kitchen and saw Carter. ‘What are you doing here?’
Eamon Carter stood up, put out his hand, then seemed to think better of it. He thrust it into his jeans pocket.
‘I’m sorry, Mrs Parker. Detective Inspector.’
‘Sit down and tell me what’s going on. And I’m very busy at the moment, so you’d better make it quick.’
After speaking on the phone with Kirby, Boyd ran back to the station car park. As he sat into his car, he saw Lynch running round the side of the building.
‘It’s impossible to get either you or the boss,’ she panted, bending down to the open window.
‘You have me now,’ Boyd said.
‘About those reports concerning unusual activity around the lakes.’ She shoved a page of print at him. ‘See there. Lough Cullion.’ She pointed.
‘I can read, Lynch. What do you want me to look at?’
‘Firstly, the lake supplies the town’s water. The council confirmed that recent samples have traces of cryptosporidium and if it gets any worse they’ll be issuing boil water notices.’
‘Okay. And?’
‘It’s not shooting season yet and there’ve been three reports of gunshots at night. Two reports of lights. Out on Monk Island.’
‘Never heard of it.’
‘Not many people have. It’s one of two islands on the lake. Church Island is more frequented as it has a little harbour area for fishing boats. But Monk Island is further out, a lot less accessible. In the Middle Ages it was used to incarcerate people—’
‘Okay, okay, Lynch. Anything else I need to know?’
‘Kirby wants to talk to the boss about phone records. Oh, and your ex-wife was here earlier, asking for you.’
‘She’s not my ex yet. What’d she want?’
‘Something about Jamie McNally. She couldn’t get through to you on your phone. You’ve to give her a call. Sounded urgent.’
‘Okay. I’ll be back shortly. Tell Kirby to keep digging.’
‘What will I do?’
‘Find out everything you can about Monk Island.’
* * *
Lottie ended her call with Rathfarnham Gardaí and faced the social worker.
‘Now, Eamon, your mother is safe. My colleagues in Rathfarnham have dispatched an officer to stay with her.’
‘But if they see a squad car, they’ll know I’ve told you,’ he cried.
‘Give us some credit. It’ll be an unmarked car. Anyway, your mother is safe. Milot is safe. And I’m going to arrest you for attempted kidnap and assaulting my daughter.’
Katie said, ‘It’s okay, Mam, it was just a misunderstanding. I don’t want to press charges.’