The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)(134)

Something off there, just a notch. I wasn’t one of Selena’s best mates, what did I know, but all the same: the flinch, when she remembered leaving her best mates behind, sleeping and lied-to. That had hurt. She didn’t seem like the type to do it for half a reason. Weather the argument and wait, gazing peacefully, let Julia storm herself out and Holly roll her eyes. Not squirm away, slice the others out of that crucial piece of her, just because they didn’t fancy hers much.

Why lie about that?

I said, ‘So you figure she didn’t tell you because she knew you’d want to protect her.’

‘If that’s how you want to say it. Whatever.’

Mackey, still pinching that clay about, still lounging, but watching me now, eyes hooded. I said, ‘But she was wrong. When you actually found out, you didn’t feel any need to protect her after all, no?’

Holly shrugged. ‘From what? They were over. Happy ending.’

‘Happy ending,’ I said. ‘Only then Chris died. And you still didn’t tell Selena you knew. Why not? You had to figure she was devastated. You didn’t think she could use a bit of protecting then? A shoulder to cry on, maybe?’

Holly threw herself back in the chair, fists clenching, so sudden I jumped. ‘OhmyGod, I didn’t know what she needed! I thought maybe she just wanted to be left alone, I thought if I said anything she’d be raging with me, I thought about it all the time and I couldn’t work out what to do for her. Because I’m crap or whatever you’re trying to say, yeah, you’re right. OK? Just leave me alone.’

I saw the little kid I remembered, furious with bafflement, red-faced and table-kicking. Behind her, Mackey’s eyes closed for a second: she hadn’t come to him. Then opened again. Stayed on me.

I said, ‘Your friendships: those mean a lot to you. Keeping them strong means a lot. Amn’t I right?’

‘Duh. So?’

‘So that little prick Chris was after wrecking them. The four of you weren’t acting like friends – Jesus, Holly, no you weren’t. Selena’s in love and doesn’t even tell the rest of you. You’re spying on her, but you don’t mention that to the other two. Selena gets dumped flat on her arse, her first love gets killed, and you don’t even give the poor girl a hug. Is that how you think friends act? Seriously?’

Good cop, Conway had said. In the corner of my eye I could see her leaning back in her chair, fake-easy, ready.

Holly snapped, ‘Me and my friends are none of your business. You don’t have a clue about us.’

‘I know they’re the most important things you’ve got. You burst your bollix getting your da and ma to let you board here, because of the three of them. You hung your whole life on your friends.’ My voice shoving at her, harder and harder. I couldn’t tell why: prove to Conway I wasn’t the Mackeys’ bitch, prove it to the Mackeys, get back at Holly for thinking she could waltz in with her postcard and fold me into origami, get back at her for being right— ‘And then Chris came on the scene, and the four of yous went to pieces. Split apart, went to crumbs, easy as that—’

Holly was shooting sparks like an arc welder. ‘We did not. We’re fine.’

‘Someone wrecked me and my mates like that, I’d hate his guts. Anyone would, except a holy angel of God. You’re a good young one, but unless you’ve changed a load in the last few years, you’re no angel. Are you?’

‘I never said I was.’

‘So how much did you hate Chris?’

Mackey said, ‘Aaand scene. Smoke break.’

Mackey never minded being obvious, so long as you couldn’t stop him. ‘Filthy habit,’ he said, sliding off the table and giving us a great big grin. ‘Need some more fresh air, young Stephen?’

Conway said, ‘You just had a smoke.’

Mackey’s eyebrow went up. He outranked the pair of us put together. ‘I want to talk to Detective Moran behind your back, Detective Conway. Was that not clear enough, no?’

‘I got that, yeah. You can do it in a minute.’

Mackey rolled his clay into a ball, tossed it to Holly. ‘Here you go, chickadee. Play with that. Don’t be making anything that’ll shock the detective; she looks like the pure-minded type.’

To me: ‘Coming?’ And he strolled out. Holly smashed the ball of clay flat on the table, viciously, with the heel of her hand.

I looked at Conway. She looked back. I went.



Mackey didn’t wait for me. I watched him take the stairs a flight ahead of me, all the way down those long curves, watched him cross the hall. That dimness, that angle, he looked sinister, someone I didn’t know and shouldn’t be following, not that fast.

When I got to the door, he was leaning back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. He hadn’t bothered to light a smoke.

He said, ‘I’m bored of playing games. You and Conway didn’t get me out here because of professional courtesy. You got me out here because you need an appropriate adult. Because Holly’s a suspect in the murder of Christopher Harper.’

I said, ‘If you’d rather go back to HQ, get all this on video, we can do that.’

‘If I wanted to be somewhere else, we would be. What I want is for you to quit bullshitting me.’

I said, ‘We think it’s possible that Holly was involved in some capacity.’