‘Did Bridie know her?’
‘I don’t know.’ The big man folded up into himself, fingers crunching into his eyes.
There was a knock on the door and Kirby beckoned Lottie outside.
She switched off the recording device. ‘Give me a minute. Would you like a coffee?’
McWard recovered some composure and dropped his hands. ‘Two minutes. I’m not waiting any longer than that.’ The thick tattooed arms were folded once again as he stared at a point on the wall above her head.
Out in the corridor, Lottie took the sheet of paper from Kirby’s hand.
‘DNA result?’ she questioned.
‘We found a match on the system.’
‘But this sample is from …’ She glanced at the name at the top of the page. ‘This can’t be … It doesn’t make sense.’
‘It doesn’t make sense, for sure, but it’s been checked twice.’
‘Shit, Kirby. This is … I don’t know. What is it?’
‘Weird?’
‘Yeah. Weird will do for now.’
Seventy-Four
They let McWard go. They had nothing to hold him on. But he was issued with a warning not to disappear again.
‘I think it’s a mistake letting him off like that,’ Boyd said. He sat down, crossing one leg over his knee, making himself comfortable in her office.
‘I don’t think he killed his family. I’ve sent uniforms to shadow him. He’s too distraught to do anything.’ She showed him the page Kirby had given her. ‘We have something more urgent on our hands than Paddy McWard. The body at the lake.’
‘What the hell?’ Boyd dropped his leg to the floor. ‘Lynn O’Donnell? But she disappeared a decade ago.’
‘And now she’s turned up dead.’
‘But that body at the lake … it was a woman in her thirties. It can’t be Lynn O’Donnell. She was only twenty-five.’
‘When she went missing, she was twenty-five then. But this DNA result means she was alive, Boyd. All those years, she was alive!’
‘Shit. Where was she all that time?’
‘I don’t know, but we better find out before her brothers do.’ She made her way across the small office, but her arm was pulled back as she opened the door. Boyd was standing into her space, right beside her, and staring into her eyes as she turned around. ‘What?’ she said.
‘Sit down for a minute. You need to think this out clearly. Before McMahon gets on your case.’
Breathing out, Lottie put a hand on his arm. ‘You’re right. Get Kirby in here too. Then we’ll try to regroup.’
She walked away from him and slumped down at her desk. She opened the cold case file. Unclipped the photograph, held it up to the light. ‘Where were you?’
‘Lottie?’
She dropped the photo. ‘The implications of this are huge. Corrigan was the lead detective at the time. Everyone thought Lynn was dead. Only her family believed she could still be alive. The way her body was when she was found can only mean one thing.’
‘What?’
‘She was held somewhere against her will. Her poor father. How am I going to tell him?’ She pursed her lips and gulped. This was a right mess. She’d put a hole through the cuff of her sleeve, she’d poked it so hard with her finger.
‘First things first,’ Boyd said. ‘How are you going to tell Superintendent McMahon?’
‘Tell me what?’ The voice boomed as the door was opened.
‘Oh, shit.’ Lottie covered her face with her hands.
* * *
‘Well at least the media can’t blame you for this, Parker.’ McMahon had convened them all in the incident room.
‘As a force, we failed this girl,’ Lottie said.
‘Now is not the time for that kind of post-mortem,’ McMahon paraded up and down at the front of the room. ‘Concentrate. Review the file. Look at the evidence from the body.’
‘Ten years, though,’ Lottie said. ‘Was she at the lake all that time?’
McMahon seemed to consider this. ‘Question the geezer who reported the body, and the caravan park manager. You lot missed something.’
Lottie nodded and said, ‘Prick’ under her breath.
‘Heard you,’ Boyd whispered.
She looked up at McMahon. ‘The state pathologist confirmed that Elizabeth Byrne’s clothes were washed in water that came from Ladystown lake. Could her murder and Lynn O’Donnell’s disappearance be linked?’ As she said the words, she thought how stupid they sounded.
‘There’s a whole decade separating the two events,’ he said.
‘But only a few days separating the discovery of their bodies.’
‘Who else lives at that location? I want everyone interviewed.’
‘We already did that,’ Kirby said.
‘Do it again, because this time you’re looking for somewhere this woman lived for ten years,’ McMahon yelled. ‘Ten fucking years under your snotty noses.’
‘Hey, there’s no need to abuse my detectives.’ Lottie marched up to him. ‘None of us here worked that original case. Superintendent Corrigan was in charge.’
‘As you may know, he had surgery yesterday. There’s no point bothering him with this.’
‘How is he?’ Lottie said.
McMahon chewed his bottom lip. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps you could give Mrs Corrigan a call? When you get time, that is. Don’t mention this cock-up.’
‘What? Right, sir, but—’
‘Was there something you wanted to add?’
‘Is there any chance of extra support from another division?’
‘Where is Detective Lynch?’
‘She’s ill at the moment.’
‘I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, get uniforms up to speed. Involve every last detective that works at this station. I want answers. Do you hear?’
Nods were accompanied by a blinding silence.
‘Am I talking to myself? I want answers and I want them now, and the only way you’re going to get them, you dozy lot, is by action. Get out of here.’
‘We need to inform the O’Donnells,’ Lottie said. ‘Before the media get wind of it.’
‘Do it. Because I can guarantee that once the media find out, they will push us into a full-on force ten gale.’
Seventy-Five
‘Back so soon?’ Donal O’Donnell led the two detectives into his home.
‘Are your sons around?’
‘They left shortly after you.’
‘Do you think you could ask them to come back again?’
Donal appeared to shudder as he lowered himself onto a chair. ‘This is it then. The bad news I’ve dreaded every day since my little woman went missing. You can tell me. I’ll tell the boys.’
Two watery eyes stared up at her and Lottie tried not to avert her own. She was about to crush any remaining hope from the bones of Donal O’Donnell. The kettle whistled and steam rose behind him.
‘Better switch that off, love. It’ll keep boiling for another two minutes if you don’t.’
‘Do you want a cup of something?’
‘No. I’m okay. Sit down.’
She hated breaking bad news to anyone. But this … this was going to kill the old man. ‘You’re right, Mr O’Donnell, I do have bad news.’
‘Well you’re hardly here to tell me I won the lottery, are you?’
‘No, I’m not. It’s about your Lynn.’
He began refolding the newspaper along the creases where he had folded it previously. ‘What about my girl. You find her? I’m guessing she’s not alive, or she’d be skipping in the door behind you.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry. You didn’t know her. She was my baby. Now I can finally grieve for her.’
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
‘Holy God!’ The old man stood up suddenly and stretched his arms out wide, like he was welcoming the son of God down on top of him. Or ridding himself of Lucifer, the devil. Lottie had to stop herself squirming. ‘The evil that stalks this land is living right here,’ he shouted. ‘Under this very roof.’
‘Hey, steady on,’ Boyd said.
‘Sit down, please,’ Lottie said.
‘Piss off, the pair of you.’
‘Do you want to know about Lynn?’ Lottie asked.
‘She’s dead. What else can you tell me to ease my pain? Her bones are bare and naked of life. That’s all that’s left after all this time. I don’t need you to tell me. I know.’