The Lost Child (Detective Lottie Parker #3)(49)
‘Or she,’ Boyd said.
‘You know what I mean.’ Lottie flicked through the pages on the desk in front of her.
‘Motive?’ Boyd pressed.
‘I’m getting there. Arthur Russell is our number one suspect. He had the opportunity as well as motive. Marian had a barring order against him.’
‘He is currently in custody,’ Boyd said. ‘We arrested him late last night once his solicitor eventually arrived. Superintendent Corrigan has extended it for another six hours.’
‘Okay, we need to work fast because when that time expires he will have to apply to the Chief Superintendent for the additional twelve hours. After that it is charge or release time. We need more evidence. On the night of the attack, Marian went missing from her home. The following day she was dumped from a car outside the hospital. She’d been beaten and her tongue cut out. She is currently in an induced coma. CCTV from the hospital, Kirby?’
‘I reviewed it with the security guys and the car was a blue Toyota. Registration clear enough to identify it as Marian Russell’s car.’
‘Anyone visible in it?’
‘Marian was thrown out from the back seat, so there had to be two people involved. Both wore hoodies and balaclavas. So no way of identifying who they were or indeed if they were male or female.’
‘See if the technical guys can enhance the images.’
‘Working on it.’
‘How was the tongue cut out?’ Lynch asked.
A few groans permeated the room. Lottie took a breath, shifted her pages and found the doctor’s report. Her stomach clenched as she read his words. ‘Possibly small pruning shears.’
‘How would they even get shears into her mouth?’ Kirby asked, his hand up to his face as if protecting his own tongue.
‘Shears used for pruning shrubs or plants are just bigger than household scissors. And Marian had been beaten, so she was possibly unconscious at the time of mutilation.’
‘Were they trying to silence her?’ Boyd, this time.
‘Probably. Perhaps she was going to tell someone something they didn’t want revealed. Maybe they were sending a warning to others.’
‘Or maybe they were sadists,’ Boyd said.
‘And we’ve no notion of where she was kept for the hours that she’d been missing?’ Kirby said.
‘Not as yet,’ Lottie conceded.
‘Wherever it was, it had to be very bloody,’ Lynch said.
‘We find the abductors – case closed,’ Kirby offered.
‘Which brings me to the cottage fire at Dolanstown.’ Lottie pointed to a photograph of the burned-out remains. ‘Initial investigation points to petrol, possibly poured through the letter box. One male body recovered from the scene and one barely alive. And the deceased did not die in the fire. He’d been stabbed numerous times.’
‘Dead before the fire,’ Boyd said. ‘Murdered.’
Lottie silently counted to five. Why did he keep interrupting her? Maybe she should’ve had the argument with him after the team meeting and not before.
‘That is the opinion of the state pathologist. The deceased was the older of the two victims but we have no identity as yet. The other victim had the fingers of his right hand hacked off. He is suffering from severe burns and is on life support. We believe this man could be Lorcan Brady. Arrested for possession of a class C drug in March. Suspended sentence. We need to get back out to his house and do a thorough search.
‘Maybe that’s where Marian Russell was held.’ Boyd again.
‘There’s no connection other than Natasha Kelly saying Brady was Emma Russell’s boyfriend. Our technical team has removed cannabis plants from an insulated building to the rear of the cottage. We’re still awaiting clearance to enter the burned structure. Later today we will know if it warrants the drug unit getting involved.
‘Now to add to the mix, Emma Russell has absconded from the neighbour’s house where she was staying. As I said, according to her friend Natasha, Emma was involved with Lorcan Brady. We need to establish where Brady was on the night of Tessa’s murder, and for that matter to determine if Emma was indeed at Natasha’s house where she said she was. I need to speak to the Kellys again. I have a suspicion Emma might not have been with them that night. Whether it was an innocent absence to meet a boyfriend, or to engage in criminal activity, we need to find out.’ She pointed to photographs of the money found in Emma’s wardrobe. ‘And where did she get nine hundred and fifty euros?’
‘She had a part-time job,’ Boyd offered.
Lottie studiously ignored him. ‘We have teams out looking for her. Time to ramp up her disappearance on social media. I’ll get the press office to issue another statement. We need to find her.’ She felt her face pale at the thought of feeding Moroney more ammunition with which to ambush her.
‘On to Mick O’Dowd, who discovered the cottage on fire. Anyone know anything about him?’
Kirby said, ‘He has great taste in cigars.’
Lottie shook her head. ‘I spoke with him yesterday afternoon. I can’t quite make up my mind about him.’ She didn’t want to say how much he had troubled her. She continued, ‘He mentioned hearing a car with a loud exhaust from time to time. Other than that, he says he knew nothing of the cottage residents.’