Page 102 of Hidden Daughters

‘Do you know anything about his family?’

‘Not a lot. He doesn’t like to talk about that either. And I’m not nosy like you.’

‘Okay.’ Lottie thought it better not to mention Bryan’s younger sister at this time. She gathered her thoughts and hoped she could make sense of it all for Grace. ‘He had knowledge of the laundry and what went on there. And this week three people have been murdered in Galway and another in Ragmullin. It may have something to do with this Imelda Conroy and the documentary she was making. She spoke with Bryan a few weeks ago.’

‘I know. He told me that too.’

‘Right. And Ann Wilson, your dressmaker, she was in the laundry as a girl.’

‘She never told me that. But she is a discreet woman. Unlike…’ Grace looked pointedly at Lottie before recovering her poise. ‘We had a purely professional relationship, me and Ann.’

‘I know.’

‘Then what has she to do with Bryan?’

‘I’m just laying out facts. The woman who was killed in Ragmullin was called Edie Butler.’

‘Never heard of her.’ Grace shook her head, emphasising the fact.

‘She was in the Sisters of Forgiveness laundry, according to Brigid Kelly, who was also there and was murdered yesterday.’

Grace gasped. ‘The poor woman who was a priest’s housekeeper? It’s nothing to do with Bryan, though, and isn’t that the point of this conversation?’

Lottie was beginning to believe that she had underestimated Grace Boyd.

‘Detective Kirby has discovered that years ago… a long time ago,’ she added, to take the harm out of it, ‘Bryan knew Edie Butler.’

Grace didn’t flinch. ‘He knew her? So what?’

‘He has to be spoken to about it. That’s all.’

‘You’re making no sense. You have spouted stuff at me with no real connection to Bryan. A few very thin links, but nothing concrete.’

‘That’s why we need to talk to him,’ Kirby said, finding his voice. ‘To establish if he has information that can help us and?—’

Lottie interrupted him. ‘Sergeant Mooney believes the murders may link back to the Sisters of Forgiveness. To their laundry. There is a connection to that institution and at least two of the murders via a man called Robert Hayes.’

‘You are trying to confuse me now.’ Grace looked from one to the other.

‘No, we are not,’ Lottie said forcefully, immediately sorry for her raised tone. She’d alienated Grace enough as it was.

‘Youareconfusing me. First you say Bryan has a link to it all, and now it’s this Hayes man. Make up your mind.’

Lottie sighed. She knew she was skirting round the issue, but there was only so much she could reveal. ‘Robert Hayes was a deacon, chaplain to the laundry and to Knockraw industrial school. Then he was ordained a priest. Brigid Kelly was his housekeeper.’

‘Oh, I remember some scandal years ago about him.’ Grace seemed to brighten as she said this, maybe thinking Hayes’s misdemeanours would deflect attention from Bryan. ‘It was rumoured he interfered with young children or something awful like that. Seems he was a very bad man.’

Her summation of Hayes sounded childish in the current horror show. But that was Grace for you, Lottie thought.

Kirby said, ‘He worked as a chef and at some stage moved to Ragmullin, where he struck up a recent relationship with Edie Butler.’

‘I still don’t see anything to warrant you hounding my Bryan. He’s a good man.’

‘I’m sure he is,’ Kirby placated. ‘But he might be able to tell us more about Hayes, seeing as he was chaplain at Knockraw while Bryan was there.’

Grace turned back to Lottie. ‘But you said Sergeant Mooney thinks the murders have to do with the nuns and the laundry. Now you are talking about the industrial school. You are not making any sense to me.’

Lottie felt bewildered herself. ‘Nothing makes sense until we can see the whole picture. We think Bryan might be able to shed some light on it. He knew Edie Butler. He spoke with Imelda Conroy. He may have known some of the other victims.’

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