Chapter 32
After her morning seminar, when her classmates went off for their coffees, Chloe pulled on her fleece and pocketed her phone. Making her way outside, she brought up Sam McKeown’s number and sent him a text. About ten minutes later, he called her.
‘Chloe? How did you—’
‘I got your number from Martina. Hope that’s okay.’
‘Depends on what you want from me.’
‘Who says I want anything?’
‘You must want something if you had to ask Martina for my number.’
‘Guilty as charged.’
‘Your message said you wanted to talk to me without anyone knowing. What’s it about?’
‘Well… You know I’m in Garda training college?’
‘I heard.’
She wondered why he sounded stand-offish. Did he think she was here because of who her mother was?
‘I’ll cut to the chase,’ she said.
‘Please do. We’re up to our eyes in murders, along with a missing kid and her mother.’
‘Are their disappearances linked to the murder-suicide?’
‘Don’t know yet. And we haven’t said it was a murder-suicide. That’s the media putting legs on the story.’
‘Okay.’
‘Go ahead then, I’m busy.’
‘I need a favour. It’s for an assignment.’ She imagined him rubbing a hand over his shaved head, tight-lipped. She wondered how she’d get him to open up. ‘I wanted to talk to you about the Healy murders. I’m studying familicide.’
‘You’re studying that? Garda training must have come on a lot since my day.’
‘I’d say it has,’ she laughed. ‘Can you help me out?’
‘How?’
‘The thing is, I’m wondering if you can give me the inside info on the murders. As I said, it’s in relation to an assignment, and I think it would give me an edge over my classmates.’ Was she laying it on too thick? Possibly.
‘Not sure I follow you.’
Was he totally dense? ‘Sam, I want to know details about the murders that someone on the ground can give me.’
‘Thought you were just training to be a foot soldier. Sounds like you’re studying to be a detective.’
She laughed, thinking he was joking, but there was a stony silence his end. Sighing, she asked, ‘Can you help me or not?’
‘Sure I can, but not over the phone. I can meet up with you.’
‘But I’m in Templemore.’
‘I know, and I’m not travelling that far.’
‘Oh.’
‘How about somewhere halfway? Say Tullamore. Around eight tonight. That suit you?’
It didn’t, and she knew Tullamore wasn’t halfway. It was a much longer drive for her than him, but she had to agree. ‘Yeah, that’s fine. Where?’
‘Castle Hotel. I’ll be in the bar.’
‘Thanks a million. I’ll see you at eight.’
He’d hung up abruptly before she got the last few words out.
‘Ignoramus,’ she said into the ether.
Alone in the office, McKeown leaned back in his chair and tried to picture Chloe Parker in a Garda uniform. The image was startlingly good. It made his lips turn up in a smirk, which died as Lottie walked out from her office.
‘Not got enough to keep you busy?’ she said, eyeing the mobile phone in his hand.
She sounded just like her daughter. A smart mouth. He pocketed his phone. ‘I’m trying to get info about a game on Freya Healy’s iPad. It’s called StarryModel and it has a pop-up chat box. But the thing is, nothing appears to be backed up. Not the game or the chats.’
‘Could it have been wiped?’
‘I don’t think so, but I’ll get Techie Gary on it if I can’t figure it out.’
‘Okay, but don’t mess it up or lose anything off it.’
She’d spun away from him before he could even open his mouth to reply.
‘Bitch,’ he finally muttered under his breath. He glanced up in case she’d heard him, but she was already gone. And he hadn’t even got to mention the photos and videos he’d discovered on Freya’s device. Tough. He’d follow it up himself.
Though it was against every rule in the regulations, he downloaded everything to a USB and pocketed it. For no other reason than just because he could.