Chapter 23
After dropping Sadie back to her house, Lottie returned to the station.
McKeown rose to his feet as she entered the incident room. ‘This just came through, boss.’
‘What is it?’ She took the printout from him.
‘Techie Gary has finished with Cameron Healy’s phone. This is the last week of texts and calls.’
‘Have you examined them?’
‘Hadn’t time. Just got the list this minute.’
She scanned her eyes over the numbers. ‘Find out who these people are and see if they raise any red flags. I’ll have a read of the texts.’
In her office, she slumped onto the chair and tore off her sopping-wet coat. She balled it up and threw it under the desk, feathers flying skywards. It was the wrong thing to do, but she hadn’t the energy to get up again and hang it on the radiator.
She focused on the list McKeown had given her.
The texts looked to be mainly work-related.
Call me asap or Waiting for final invoice sort of messages.
She noticed that most of them followed unanswered calls.
So it was likely Healy was following up on accounts for the end-of-year tax returns.
Nothing jumped out as suspicious, though they would all have to be checked nonetheless.
Another job to keep McKeown out of her hair.
The man had such an overpowering sense of importance that it rankled whenever she was in his presence.
Countless pleas to Superintendent Farrell to have him transferred had failed. She’d just have to put up with him.
As she thought this, McKeown arrived waving another printout.
‘Gary has emailed everything to us, but I printed off Caroline Healy’s phone calls and text transcripts.
Makes interesting reading.’ He handed over the page with a smirk.
Some days she wanted to swipe it clean off his face, but today she went with the flow. Easier option.
He made to speak again, but she held up her hand. ‘Thanks. Leave it with me.’
She scanned the printout. It ran to three pages, and that was just from the previous week. The calls and texts were mainly to and from one number.
Cameron’s number appeared occasionally. Hadn’t Sadie said he rang his wife constantly, checking up on her? Had Caroline been lying to her friend? Anything was possible.
This other number, though, it was everywhere. There were no calls, just texts. Day and night. Who had Caroline been texting? Was she having an affair?
Lottie was tempted to phone the number just to see who answered, but she decided to wait until she’d read through everything.
By the time she came to the last text, sent by Caroline on the morning of her daughter’s twelfth birthday, she was convinced the woman had been in the throes of a red-hot affair.
She walked to the incident room and waved the printout. ‘Anyone find out who this number belongs to?’
Kirby looked up from his screen. ‘What number?’
‘The one that Caroline Healy texted numerous times.’
McKeown smirked again. ‘It’s a pay-as-you-go. I’ve asked Garda Lei to see what he can find out about it. Damn near impossible task.’
‘We need to know who owns it.’
‘It might just be a steamy affair, nothing to do with their deaths.’
‘You’d know all about affairs, steamy or not,’ Kirby quipped.
‘Shut it,’ McKeown said.
‘Will you both stop?’ Martina said.
Lottie stared at the young garda. ‘Martina, why are you not with Sadie Clarke?’
‘She sent me packing. Again. Wanted to be alone.’
‘She told you she was terrified of her husband and yet she didn’t want you there? That’s odd. Had Thomas come home?’
‘No. Sadie said he was out searching, but he was actually at a site meeting in town with his team. I checked.’
‘Okay. Anything on Lily’s whereabouts?’
Kirby shook his head. ‘SOCOs found nothing at the house to indicate an abduction. It’s like the kid disappeared into thin air.’
‘You and I know that’s not possible. I’ll speak to the superintendent about upping the searches and appeals.
The longer the child is missing, the more likely she’s…
’ Lottie let her words trail off. It wasn’t looking good for Lily Clarke, especially in light of what had happened to her friend’s family.
She looked at McKeown. ‘Anything on Freya Healy or Lily Clarke’s iPads? ’
‘Both devices are with the technical team for analysis. I’ll follow up.’
‘Back to Caroline’s supposed affair,’ she said, mulling over all the loose threads, which were threatening to get out of control. ‘We need to double our efforts to find out who owns this phone number.’
‘Sadie might know. Caroline could have confided in her.’
‘I can go back there and talk to her if you want me to,’ Martina offered.
‘Not yet. We need more information on this number first.’ Lottie glanced at the incident board. ‘Find out who supplied the balloon arch. And interview everyone who was at the party again.’
‘This is a waste of resources,’ McKeown grumbled. ‘Anyway, I thought I was on the Lily Clarke team?’
‘There could be a crossover, so we tick all the boxes until we find one we can’t tick.’ Lottie stomped out of the room, feeling just as narky as McKeown.
After returning from Caroline’s house, Sadie felt deflated and sore.
Her kitchen still displayed the remnants of the guards having been there.
Cups in the sink. Tea stains on the ceramic draining counter.
Open tea caddy. Coffee beans sprinkled around the DeLonghi machine. She hadn’t the energy to clean up.
In Lily’s room, she lay on her daughter’s bed and studied all her familiar things.
Inhaled the smell from her pillow and her childhood teddy bear.
No matter how much Lily rebelled, she loved her Pooh Bear.
She slid her hand under the pillow and drew out Lily’s PJs.
Harry Potter. Even though she had coerced Sadie and twisted her arm for the haircut, she was still a child at heart.
She didn’t cry.
There was no time to cry when Thomas could soon be home.
Gingerly she got off the bed and went to the primary suite, as he liked to call it.
The bloodstain on the floor mocked her, and she gritted her teeth.
She hoped that someday he would pay for his sins.
She stripped off and stood into the shower, remembering last night and how she sat on the floor and let the water pound her skin.
Today she was battered and bruised, but stronger.
That strength would help her in the days to come.