Page 84 of Her Last Walk Home

‘When is my mam coming home?’ Aaron interrupted her futile thoughts.

‘I told you, sweetheart, she’s gone to stay with the angels. She’s happy in heaven.’

‘Is she not happy here with me?’

‘She is… was. But she wants to be able to look down on you from the clouds and care for you with the angels.’

‘Why can’t she care for me here?’

How did one convince a little boy his mother was dead? Diana was at a loss to find the right words while her own heart was shattered. The image of angels and fluffy clouds would not satisfy her grandson for long. ‘I don’t know, honey. Please eat your chippies and let me think.’

‘Think about what?’

‘Stuff.’

‘I want to go home and play with my toys.’

‘Soon. You have to eat all your chippies first.’

Her phone vibrated on the table and skittered away from her hand. Martina. Again. Could she not allow her a little time to herself? She could feck right off.

‘Would you like to go on holiday with me, Aaron?’

‘To the seaside?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Can Mam come too?’

Diana groaned. This would be so much more difficult than she had imagined. There was no way she was waiting around for the guards to pin Laura’s murder on her. She needed to go home for their passports. That was when it hit her. Aaron didn’t have a passport.

61

Lottie was developing an irritating itch about Gordon Collins. He had no clear alibi for John’s murder because they didn’t have a definitive time of death. In and out of the site all day didn’t constitute an alibi. And when Kirby told her Shannon had spent time in rehab along with John Morgan, she wanted to see Cuan’s records.

‘We haven’t enough for a warrant,’ she said.

‘Maybe a trip out there would work?’ Boyd said.

‘I would have asked Collins about Shannon had I known more. Now that I’ve awoken the solicitor demon in him, there’s no point going back to him until I have evidence that he’s somehow involved.’

Kirby chomped on the end of an unlit cigar, like a cow chewing the cud. ‘If we could identify the dead woman, it might help tie things together. She has to have been killed by the same man as Laura.’

‘I agree,’ Lottie said. ‘There’s no way we have two killers stalking the young women of Ragmullin.’

‘Stranger things—’ Kirby began.

‘Don’t,’ Lottie and Boyd said simultaneously.

She studied the board of photos. The room was silent except for the hum and rattle of the radiators struggling to generate heat. ‘What did you make of Plunkett, Kirby?’

‘He’s a bit up his own hole. Enough of a twat to make him a murderer? I don’t know. He seemed on edge, but that’s to be expected. Hisgirlsare being murdered. And what he’s doing is verging on illegal. He should be investigated by vice and?—’

‘The murders take precedence. Go back to him with the photo of the latest victim. If she turns out to be registered with his agency, then we rip his place apart. Did we get access to his database?’

‘Yes. He sent it without need of the warrant. I called the relevant men to confirm their alibis and then gave it to McKeown to go through it.’

‘Where is he?’ Lottie asked.

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