Chapter 99
Kirby was a ball of sweat by the time they had removed the junk from Alice’s bedroom. Garda Lei wasn’t faring much better.
‘Still no photos, cash or computer equipment, Detective Kirby,’ Lei said, bringing out the last box from the smallest bedroom.
‘Thomas said she had a laptop at the table when he was here last night. Where is it?’
‘Maybe it’s in her car. Was it searched? I could phone and—’
‘Yes, it was searched,’ Kirby said, cutting Lei off. ‘It’s being forensically examined at the moment.’
‘Then it must be here. I’ll start going through this stuff again. It’s very dusty. Bad for my lungs and—’
‘I’m going out for a smoke.’
Kirby grabbed his coat and made his way out to the back garden. He lit his cigar and took a good puff, relishing the brief peace it gave him.
The garden had become soggier since he’d last been here, but most of the fallen leaves had been gathered up.
He marvelled at the remaining flowers that had survived the deluges they’d endured all week.
How did Alice manage to keep them in bloom?
He knew that if it was him, he’d succeed in killing every plant, even those marketed as indestructible.
He wandered around the garden puffing at his cigar, clearing his head. He looked back at the dilapidated prefab house, a direct contrast to the meticulous way Alice kept the garden. A psychologist would probably have a name for it, he thought.
Buried deep in a row of bushes, he noticed a compost bin. Must be where she put the leaves, then used the mulch to treat the flower beds. Out of curiosity, he lifted the lid, blowing out smoke to ward off any smell that might rise to greet him.
What he saw nestled among the damp and mangled leaves made him drop the lid.
‘Lei! Lei! Call the boss.’
Lottie was growing to loathe Alice Quigley and her house with every fibre of her being. She trudged around to the back garden, where she found Lei and Kirby standing in the fading light.
‘This better be good,’ she said. ‘I don’t like getting cloak-and-dagger messages. I’m in the middle of interviewing a host of hostile witnesses.’
‘This might improve your mood.’
‘Who says my mood needs improving? Show me what you found.’
‘Over here. It’s in the compost bin. I didn’t touch it. Called you first. Grainne is on her way too.’
Lottie made her way across the lawn to the bin.
‘Wow!’ An air of anticipation had begun to infuse her, and now she felt elated. ‘Great work, lads.’
‘Alice’s laptop,’ Kirby said with a huge smile.
‘It’s a laptop,’ Lottie corrected him.
‘Yes,’ Lei said, ‘but it’s her house and her garden and her compost bin…’
‘Assumptions are dangerous,’ Lottie said, ‘but in this case I tend to agree.’
‘I took a load of photos,’ Kirby said. ‘It’s wrapped in thick plastic. Will we take it out now?’
‘Ensuring a correct chain of custody is vital, especially if we find hard evidence on the laptop,’ Lottie said. ‘We should wait for Grainne.’
‘Someone mention my name?’ The SOCO leader joined them.
‘Be as quick as you can,’ Lottie said. ‘I think we might have found the missing piece that should explain everything. At least I hope so.’
Once Grainne had finished examining the find in place, taken videos and photos, turned it over and taken more photos, she lifted out the bag containing the laptop, plus a large bulky envelope also wrapped in plastic. ‘I’ll take these into evidence now.’
‘We need to open them,’ Lottie said. ‘Bring everything inside and video our actions. This has to be airtight if we hope to get a conviction.’
Inside the house, Grainne placed a clear film of plastic across the kitchen table.
Lottie removed the laptop from the bag.
‘Password-protected,’ she groaned, and closed the lid. ‘The technical team will have to work on it.’
The envelope intrigued her. She opened it, taking longer than normal because of the gloves. When she tipped it to one side, out slid bundles of cash and photos. Silence filled the space. Anticipation had turned to dread.
‘This has to be what Thomas Clarke found.’ She forced herself to study the photos.
There were ten in total. Lily and Freya.
All had been taken in Freya’s bedroom. Some from a distance.
Possibly from the tree opposite the window.
On the surface they were children getting dressed or undressed.
But the way the investigation had turned made them decidedly sinister. ‘Goddammit.’
‘Any dates or info on the reverse?’ Kirby asked, his voice quivering.
She flicked them over one by one.
‘Blank,’ Garda Lei said, the one word unusual for the young man who wouldn’t know a short sentence if it bit him.
‘I doubt Sadie or Caroline took these,’ Lottie said. ‘I wonder if they found them on Cameron’s laptop. But how did they print them off without raising suspicion?’
Lei said, ‘They could have downloaded them to a USB and printed them at a self-service printing kiosk. There’s one in the chemist on Main Street and another down at—’
‘Thanks, Lei, we’ll follow up. Will you go out and continue to search the garden, please?’ When he left, she turned her attention to the cash. ‘If this is the money Caroline took from Alice’s secret account, why was it in Sadie Clarke’s possession?’
‘Sadie was helping Caroline?’ Grainne offered.
‘We thought Caroline was having an affair with Thomas,’ Lottie said, ‘but what if the texts were between the two women? A code for their plans, or something like that.’
‘If so, what went wrong?’ Kirby asked.
‘I don’t know. Sadie could still be our killer.
Thomas is pleading ignorance. He’s either a great actor or he’s genuinely horrified at what he found in the safe.
I’m convinced Sadie Clarke holds the key to all this.
In the meantime, I want every flower bed in that garden dug up. There may be more evidence hidden.’
‘What evidence?’ Kirby asked.
‘Damned if I know, but if Alice is involved in this sort of activity, there has to be more.’