Page 107 of Hidden Daughters

‘That’s because I want to know what Ann Wilson talked to you about.’

‘You think it’s relevant?’ she asked.

‘Might be.’

‘In what way?’

‘Don’t. Please. Just tell me.’

‘It was confidential.’ She felt unexpectedly sorry for Mooney and didn’t like the sense of unease that squeezed something tightly in her chest. ‘What you need to know is that she spent time in the laundry. During her years there, she witnessed a particularly vile attack on a child. I think that could have put her in the cross hairs of the killer.’

‘Oh my good God. What happened?’

She ignored his question. ‘Did you find Robert Hayes?’

‘No, but we traced him getting off the Galway train on Monday evening. He has to be around somewhere.’

‘He was involved in the incident Ann witnessed all those years ago. And he knew Edie Butler who was found murdered earlier this week in Ragmullin. He is very dangerous.’

‘What exactly did Ann witness?’

‘A young child was shoved into one of the washing machines. Hayes locked her in and turned the machine on. She died shortly afterwards. Ann claimed the child was Bryan O’Shaughnessy’s little sister.’

‘Fuck.’

‘Yeah. Fuck.’

‘This could mean that it’s O’Shaughnessy going around killing those he deemed to be involved in his sister’s murder.’

‘Possibly, but I think it’s more likely Robert Hayes who is killing witnesses.’

Mooney lowered his head, tugged his beard and sighed long and hard. ‘Where is Bryan O’Shaughnessy now?’

‘I have no idea. But he doesn’t know what Ann told me. I haven’t spoken to him yet. I’ve been kicked out of the house and I seem to have fucked up my relationship with Mark Boyd. All in a day’s work, even though it’s not my work. I just wanted to uncover the truth. It’s up to you to follow the evidence and nab the killer.’ She paused, listened to the purring of the Atlantic Ocean. ‘I can’t stop thinking about that child and what happened to her. And I can’t stop thinking about Brigid Kelly. Just as defenceless as the child.’

‘Was Brigid involved back then?’

‘She was born in that convent.’

Mooney stood, shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed long and hard. ‘Is it the same person doing all this?’

‘I suspect it is. Have you found Imelda Conroy?’

‘No. She’s in the wind too.’

‘She could be more of a suspect than a victim in all this,’ Lottie said quietly. ‘Did you get the advanced DNA results?’

‘Nothing’s back yet. You know as well as I do that this type of analysis takes time.’

‘Have you found out any more information on Assumpta Feeney?’

‘Just that she entered the convent at eighteen, but by the time she was twenty she’d left the Sisters of Forgiveness and was studying to be a nurse.’

Lottie stood. ‘It’s likely that she was in the convent at the same time as Ann and Edie, even Brigid.’ She felt a perverse sort of excitement that they were getting somewhere. ‘Mooney, you have a serial killer on your hands and it’s more than possible that the motive relates to the incident with the child that Ann told me about. This killer won’t stop until everyone who witnessed it, or took part in it, is dead.’

‘She told you that Robert Hayes locked the child in the machine. I need to elevate him from person of interest to a serious suspect in all the murders.’

She didn’t want to state the obvious again, but felt she had to. ‘Don’t forget that the little girl was possibly Bryan O’Shaughnessy’s sister.’

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