The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)(124)

I put on my gloves, eased it out between two fingertips like we might get prints. We wouldn’t. Not off the outside, not off the inside of the cover, not off the battery or the SIM card. Everything would be shiny clean.

‘Great,’ Conway said, grim. ‘A cop’s kid. Beautiful.’

I said, finally, ‘This doesn’t mean for definite that Holly did it.’

My voice sounded reedy and stupid, too weak to convince even me. Flick of Conway’s eyebrow. ‘You don’t think?’

‘She could’ve been covering for Julia or Rebecca.’

‘Could’ve been, but we’ve got nothing that says she was. Everything else could point to any of them; this is the only thing we’ve got that’s specific, and it points straight at Holly. She couldn’t stand Chris. And from what I’ve seen of her, the kid’s determined, independent, got brains, got guts. She’d make a great killer.’

The cool of Holly, that morning in Cold Cases. Running the interview, glossy and sharp, throwing me a compliment to jump for at the end. Taking control.

‘Anything I’m missing,’ Conway said, ‘feel free to point it out.’

I said, ‘Why bring me the card?’

‘I didn’t miss that.’ Conway shook out another evidence envelope, spread it on top of the bin and started labelling. ‘She’s got balls, too. She knew someone would come to us sooner or later, figured doing it herself would take her off the suspect list – and it worked, too. If there’s trouble waiting for you, better to go out and meet it head-on, not stick your head in the sand and hope it doesn’t find you. I’d do the same thing.’

The look on Holly, that afternoon in the corridor when Alison lost the plot. Scanning faces. For a murderer, I’d thought then. For an informer had never crossed my mind.

I said, ‘That’s a lot of balls for a sixteen-year-old.’

‘So? You don’t think she’s got them?’

No answer to that. It hit me like a mouthful of ice: Conway had had Holly in her sights all along. The second I had shown up in her squad room, all eager, with my little card and my little story, she had started wondering.

Conway said, ‘I’m not saying she definitely did the job all by herself. Like we said before, it could’ve been her and Julia and Rebecca together; could’ve been the whole four of them. But whatever went down, Holly was up to her tits in it.’

‘And I’m not saying she wasn’t. I’m just keeping an open mind.’

Conway had finished labelling the envelope and straightened up, watching me. She said, ‘You think the same thing. You just don’t like that your Holly had you fooled.’

‘She’s not my Holly.’

Conway didn’t answer that. She held out the envelope for me to drop in the phone. Let it swing between her fingers. ‘If this interview is gonna be a problem for you,’ she said, ‘I need to know now.’

I kept my voice even. ‘Why would it be a problem?’

‘We’re gonna have to get her da in.’

No way to pretend Holly wasn’t a suspect. The stupidest detective alive wouldn’t bite on that. Holly’s da isn’t stupid.

I said, ‘Yeah. And?’

‘Word on the street is that Mackey’s done you a few favours. I’m not giving you hassle for that; you do what you need to do. But if the two of you are all buddy-buddy, or if you owe him, then you’re not the guy to interrogate his kid for murder.’

I said, ‘I don’t owe Mackey anything. And he’s not my buddy.’

Conway watched me.

‘It’s been years since I even talked to the guy. I came in useful to him once, he’s made sure to be useful to me since – he wants everyone knowing that helping him out pays off. That’s it. End of.’

‘Huh,’ Conway said. Maybe she looked satisfied; maybe she just looked like she had decided it might soften Mackey up, having an ally in the room. She sealed off the envelope, shoved it in her satchel with the rest. ‘I don’t know Mackey. Is he gonna give us hassle?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘He will. I wouldn’t say he’ll whip Holly straight off home, tell us to talk to his solicitor; he’s not like that. He’ll f*ck with us, but he’ll do it sideways, and he won’t leave unless it looks like we’re getting somewhere. He’ll want to keep us talking till he works out our theory, what we’ve got.’

Conway nodded. Said, ‘Got his number?’

‘Yeah.’

Next second I wished I’d said no, but all Conway said was, ‘Ring him.’

Mackey picked up fast. ‘Stephen, my man! Long time no talk.’

I said, ‘I’m at St Kilda’s.’

The air sharpened, instantly, to a knifepoint. ‘What’s happened.’

‘Holly’s fine,’ I said, fast. ‘Totally fine. We just need to have a chat with her, and we figured you’d want to be there.’

Silence. Then Mackey said, ‘You don’t say Word One to her till I get there. Not Word One. Have you got that?’

‘Got it.’

‘Don’t forget it. I’m nearby. I’ll be there in twenty.’ He hung up.

I put my phone away. ‘He’ll be here in fifteen minutes,’ I said. ‘We need to be ready.’