Chapter 25
A small search team arrived at the Clarke house. Having no direct evidence on which to arrest Thomas, Lottie had to tread carefully.
The blood from the bedroom and shower would be analysed to determine if it came from Sadie.
If it did, they had to assume she was injured, or worse.
Boyd spoke to Superintendent Farrell on the phone, and she agreed, even though it might prove to be premature, that a missing person alert should be issued.
‘The texts on Caroline’s phone are a little on the raunchy side, aren’t they?’ Lottie said to Boyd as they sat in the car outside the impressive-looking house.
‘Secret lovers probably have phone sex. They can’t fulfil their desires like a normal couple.’
She spun round to stare at him. ‘How do you know that?’
‘It’s human nature.’
‘Don’t tell me you’ve had phone sex?’
‘No, but I know someone I’d like to try it with.’ He grinned at her, and she felt her heart lighten. Then he got serious. ‘Where to now?’
‘The station. I pray Sadie is just hiding from her abusive husband and he hasn’t harmed her.’
‘That blood, though…’
‘It was dried in, but we need to check the DNA,’ she said. ‘It might not belong to Sadie at all.’
‘Could it be Lily’s?’
‘Not unless she came back, which I doubt. There was no blood found anywhere in the house after she went missing. Everything was forensically examined.’
‘And you truly believe that Cameron Healy didn’t kill his family and then slit his own wrist?’
‘If Jane is right, he died first.’
‘But if he didn’t do it, who did?’
‘Ten-million-dollar question.’
‘Have you thought that it could have been Caroline herself?’
‘It crossed my mind, but she was strangled. She couldn’t have done that to herself, especially as no ligature was found near her body.’
‘It seems improbable, but maybe not impossible.’
‘I’m keeping an open mind anyhow.’ Lottie hesitated, trying to align her thoughts. ‘The disappearance of Lily and now Sadie… It doesn’t add up.’
‘Maybe Sadie killed the Healys.’
‘Another improbable but not impossible scenario.’
‘You think Thomas Clarke killed them all?’ Boyd asked.
She felt his eyes on the side of her face. She couldn’t look at him after his quip about the phone sex. This conversation was too serious for those thoughts. ‘We just need to find the evidence to charge him or exonerate him.’
‘Any bright ideas on what to do next?’
‘Let’s go back to the station and see if the team has made any progress.’
With still no trace of Lily Clarke’s phone, Lottie looked at the assembled team. ‘We need to get a warrant to track Sadie Clarke’s phone too.’
‘What about Thomas’s?’ McKeown asked.
‘I don’t think that’s possible until we have something more to go on.
’ She scanned the crime-scene photos on the incident board.
‘The fact that Freya Healy’s birthday gifts and cards are missing needs careful consideration.
If there was a burglary, there was a lot more tech equipment in that house to take.
It doesn’t make sense.’ She thought over what needed to be done.
‘Have all the shoes belonging to Cameron Healy been examined? We need to find a match for that print on Caroline’s back. ’
‘Yes, and no match was found with any of them,’ McKeown said.
‘Shit,’ Lottie muttered.
‘A dead end so,’ Kirby said.
Lottie shook her head. ‘If we get more evidence to arrest Thomas Clarke, then we can get a warrant for his phone and shoes.’
‘You really think he was having an affair with Caroline?’ Martina asked from the back of the room.
‘I don’t know, but we haven’t come across anyone else with the initial T, have we?’
‘Not yet.’ McKeown tapped his iPad, as if by magic an answer would appear.
‘Would it be helpful to talk to Caroline’s mother again?’ Kirby asked.
‘Maybe.’ Lottie felt a tinge of hope. ‘You met her. Would she open up, do you think?’
‘Worth a try.’
‘I’ll go with you.’