Chapter 80
A mist hung over the trees surrounding the lake as Lottie drove to the hospital, her heart heavy with the weight of life. The landscape was grey and sombre, pulsing beneath a threatening veil. She’d been on the phone to the hospital twice during the night, and then she’d overslept.
She parked in a legal space this time and made her way inside. Chloe was out of ICU but was still asleep. The surgeon told her she had been taken out of the induced coma earlier and her vital signs were positive.
After an hour sitting holding her daughter’s hand, Lottie kissed her forehead and visited Martina.
There, she gleaned nothing other than what the young guard had told Kirby.
Was it a load of hogwash that Liam Scanlan had spouted about someone threatening Cameron Healy?
Was it in fact Scanlan himself who was the threat?
At Clarice Shaw’s bedside, Lottie laid eyes on the young woman for the first time. She was hooked up to a machine. Her eyes fluttered into wakefulness, childlike.
Lottie introduced herself.
Clarice smiled weakly. ‘I got myself caught up in a real-life crime drama, didn’t I? My dad would be… I suppose he would be sad.’
‘Did you see who attacked you?’
‘Lucozade Zero man.’
‘Who?’
‘Inside joke, sorry.’ She wheezed when she spoke, and Lottie wondered at the internal injuries she’d suffered. ‘Not the time for it, is it?’
‘Whatever gets you through this ordeal is fine by me.’ Lottie smiled at Clarice’s humour. Would Chloe ever get her sense of humour back, after what she’d been through?
‘Liam Scanlan,’ Clarice said.
‘Why do you think he came for you?’
‘Because I’ve a big mouth?’
‘Really?’
‘I don’t honestly know,’ Clarice said. ‘I didn’t believe little old me could be a threat to anyone. But there must have been something. Maybe he realised I’d called Garda Brennan. But that doesn’t make sense. He attacked her. Why did he need to come for me? Unless…’ Her voice trailed off.
‘Unless what?’ Lottie prompted.
‘Unless it had to do with the night I ran out on him.’
‘Tell me about that night.’
‘It was nothing. We went up to his apartment. I wasn’t drunk or anything, I just felt like having a bit of fun. He looked harmless. Famous last words.’ Clarice tried to cough, her breath catching in her throat.
‘Go on, if you can.’ Lottie admired the young woman’s stamina.
‘He had no condoms. That kind of dampened my mood. I wasn’t about to take a risk, so I ran. Don’t know what possessed me to go with him in the first place. Loser.’
‘And you had no dealings or contact with him after that night?’
‘No. He could have been in and out of the pub when I wasn’t on shift. Or maybe I just didn’t notice him. He’s the type of guy who blends into the background.’
Scanlan was doing a good job of blending in somewhere, Lottie thought. There had been no sightings of him. Hopefully McKeown would soon get his act together and find him on CCTV. Scanlan had made it personal.
‘Can you remember anything else that happened that night?’
‘I don’t know,’ Clarice murmured. ‘Sorry.’
‘Something that could give him a reason in his own twisted mind to come after you.’ Lottie inched closer, as if that act alone could extract a clue. ‘When exactly did the encounter between you happen?
‘Must be three weeks ago.’ Clarice closed her eyes, the exertion of talking wearing her out. Then her eyes flicked open. ‘Maybe there was something. I don’t know…’ Her voice faded with fatigue.
‘Tell me. Please.’
‘There was a woman on the stairwell when I rushed out of his flat. I thought it odd at the time, but it didn’t come back to me until now. Strange.’
‘Strange woman or strange that you didn’t remember it?’
‘Both, I suppose. She was well dressed. Lovely designer scarf around her neck. I remember thinking she must have wandered into the wrong place. But at the same time, she gave the impression of knowing where she was going.’
‘And where was that?’
Clarice tried to shrug, but an expression of pain crossed her face. ‘No other apartment up there, just his.’
‘If she’d been a few minutes earlier, she’d have walked in on you.’
‘I remember he took a call when we first entered the flat. He didn’t speak. Just listened. Then he hung up. It could have been her.’
‘Okay.’ Lottie wondered how long it would take to get the call log from Scanlan’s phone. He had attempted to murder three women, including Chloe. She felt sick to her stomach.
‘You okay?’ Clarice asked. ‘You look like you saw a ghost.’
‘He’s no ghost. I intend to find him.’
‘Thank you. How is Martina?’
‘She’ll be fine, in time. Like you will be. I’m sorry this has happened to you.’
‘Not your fault. If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d think I could become a detective myself.’
‘Hasn’t put you off?’
‘God, no. If I was a guard, I’d go to the ends of the earth to see that bastard behind bars.’
Lottie took her phone out. ‘Would you mind looking at a few photos for me?’
‘Photos of what?’
‘I’d rather not say up front. I don’t want to colour your judgement.’
‘Show me.’
‘Tell me if you recognise any of these people.’ She found the photos she needed and held the phone up to Clarice, swiping them one by one until the young woman told her to stop.
‘Her. That’s her,’ she said, agitated. ‘The woman I met on the stairwell.’
‘You sure?’ Lottie felt her heart rate speed up. She had been hoping, not anticipating, that Clarice might be able to identify someone in one of the photos. She had most definitely not been expecting it to be the woman she had pointed to.
‘What did she do?’ Clarice asked.
‘That’s the thing. I don’t know.’
‘But you didn’t think she was the woman I’d point out?’
‘No, I did not.’
‘I’ve put the cat among the pigeons.’
‘Something like that. Thanks for your help, Clarice. Now get better soon.’