Chapter 53
Kirby scratched his head. He’d had no joy at the Canal Bar. Dandruff flew in little flutters onto his jacket shoulders.
Garda Lei said, ‘If this Clarice has finished her shift, do you think Martina met her and they went somewhere for a drink or…?’
‘Or what?’ Kirby felt responsible for Martina’s well-being, and even though they’d no proof that anything was wrong, he sensed all was not right.
He’d secured Clarice’s phone number and address from the bar manager.
He phoned her, but she didn’t answer the call.
He glanced at the address on the piece of paper. ‘Come on, Lei.’
‘Wait. If Scanlan lives up there,’ Lei pointed to the apartments, ‘we could check to see if he’s home.’
‘Good idea. Using your head, Lei.’
By the time they’d climbed the stairs, knocked the shit out of the door without anyone opening it and gone back down the stairs and outside, Kirby was panting and sweating.
‘Now we go talk to Clarice?’ Lei asked.
‘You of the bright ideas. That stairs has me fucked.’
‘Will I drive, then?’
‘Let me get my breath back.’ Kirby leaned over, hands on his knees.
‘Don’t take too long, the heavens are about to open again.’
Clarice lived in a one-bedroom ground-floor flat down a lane close to JoMo’s nightclub.
Kirby rang the bell ready to be disappointed again, but the door was opened by the woman herself, hair in a towel, phone to her ear.
Baggy black tracksuit bottoms, and a skinny white tank top accentuating her smooth-skinned shoulders.
‘I’ll ring you back,’ she said and hung up. She stared at Kirby. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Why do you think anything has happened?’ he said.
‘You’ve gone to the trouble of finding out where I live and you have a different guard with you. Maybe I should be the detective.’ She grinned, then her face grew serious. ‘Where’s Martina?’
‘That’s why we’re here. Can we come in?’
‘Don’t mind the mess. I’m a bit of a pig. No room to put anything away, so I’ve clothes everywhere.’
She wasn’t lying, Kirby noted.
She unwrapped the towel from her hair and placed her phone on the small coffee table. ‘Oh, I’ve a missed call from an unknown number. Was that you?’
‘Yes. Have you seen Martina since we were in the pub earlier today?’
‘Yeah, I phoned her.’ An uneasy shift in energy filtered through the room, and the girl’s eyes clouded. ‘Why? Has something happened to her? Has that slimeball hurt her?’
‘Back up,’ Kirby said. ‘Why did you call her?’
‘She gave me her number. When Liam Scanlan arrived in the bar, I rang her and she came.’
‘Shit. Was she alone?’
‘Yes.’
Kirby wished he had a cigar in his hand. He was struggling to get his head around why Martina had gone without a partner. Then again, they had no reason to believe Liam was dangerous or had done anything wrong, except annoy the fuck out of Clarice Shaw.
‘Tell me in detail what went on.’
‘He came into the pub. I phoned Martina. She arrived. Ordered a plate of chips and a drink. I reckon slimeball copped her for a guard because he tried to leave. Whacked his head off the shelf with the telly. Good enough for him. Martina spoke with him. Then she told me she’d be back for her food and the two of them left. ’
‘Left for where? Where did they go?’
‘I don’t know, do I? I’d guess up to his apartment, seeing as she said she’d be back.’
‘How long were they gone?’
She shrugged. ‘I had ten minutes left on my shift at that stage. She hadn’t returned by the time I was leaving.’
‘Were you not worried?’
‘To be honest, I was a little bit, but I figured she was well able to look after herself, being a guard and all.’
‘Okay. Thanks.’ He turned to go.
‘Do you think he’s dangerous?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘I’m just thinking,’ Clarice said, ‘the way he tried to leave when he copped Martina for a guard, it was not the action of an innocent man.’
Kirby had been thinking the exact same thing.
Back at Scanlan’s apartment, breathless, his throat rasping, Kirby hammered the door with his fist. And again, more forcefully. Reddening his knuckles. Still no answer.
Martina’s phone was dead now, and he’d got Lei to request a trace on it.
That would take time and might be unnecessary, because she could stroll into the station any minute, though Kirby wasn’t taking any chances.
He had that gut feeling the boss always talked about.
He hoped he was wrong, but instinctively he knew something had happened.
‘Stand back, Lei.’
‘Hold on a minute.’ The young guard was more fidgety than usual. Kirby couldn’t blame him. ‘Maybe we should contact the landlord first. They’ll have a key.’
‘I’ve a bad feeling,’ Kirby said, his brow creased with worry.
‘Call the boss or you’ll get in trouble.’
‘I don’t care. Stand back.’
‘You need a warrant and—’
‘Stand the fuck back, Lei.’
The young guard did as he was ordered, folding his arms like a scolded child.
Kirby took a deep breath and smashed in the door with his boot. Splinters of timber flew everywhere. He got his hand through the destruction and unlatched it.
His heart was tumbling in his chest like the drum of an out-of-control washing machine, and then it almost stopped.
‘Martina!’
He rushed forward without a care for preserving the scene. She looked dead. Too much blood. Too still. Tears blinded him.
‘Holy Mother of God. Lei, call an ambulance. Quick.’
He looked around for something to stem the bleeding from her side. Lei came with a bundle of towels he’d found somewhere. Kirby grabbed them and applied them to the seeping wound.
Her skin was translucent. He could see the little veins, and her lips were almost blue. Shit. Shit. But the wound was bleeding, so that meant her heart was still beating, didn’t it? He put a bloody finger to her neck, willing the throb of a pulse. It was there. Faint, but there. Thank God.
‘Call the boss. And Boyd. Tell them to find that fucker Scanlan.’