The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)(91)

‘They just fizzled out?’ I didn’t believe it, not after that footage. But, trying it on for size: ‘That age, even a month or two is a long time to be with someone. That’s when Chris got bored of Joanne. He could’ve got restless again, started feeling like it was too much commitment. Or Selena wanted to go public, same as Joanne did.’

Conway had stopped moving. The sun was lowering; it came in through the window arrow-straight and level, turned her face into a light-and-shadow mask. ‘I’ll tell you what else a month or two is, at that age. It’s when guys start turning up the pressure. Put out or get out.’

I waited. Silence, and the thick flower-chemical smell of body sprays burning the inside of my nose.

Conway said, ‘Someone did something to Selena that f*cked up her mind and put all four of them off guys. And right around the same time, Selena and Chris broke up.’

I said, ‘You think Chris raped her.’

‘I think we need to check out the possibility. Yeah.’

‘Running into temptation and two-timing a girl you really like, that’s one thing. Raping her’s another. That video: on there, he looks like . . .’ Conway was withering me. I finished anyway. ‘He looks like he was mad about her.’

‘Course he does. So does any teenage guy who thinks he’s got a shot at a shag. They’ll be whatever they think the girl wants to see. Right up until they realise it’s not getting them into her knickers.’

‘That looked like the real thing to me.’

‘You an expert, yeah?’

‘Are you?’

Conway upped the stare. Couple of hours earlier, I would’ve blinked. I stared right back.

She left it. ‘Even if it was real,’ she said. ‘Even if he was genuinely mad about her. He could’ve raped her anyway. Grown adults don’t do something that’s obviously gonna hurt someone they love, not if they can help it, but that age; remember that age? They’re not the same. They don’t put things together. That’s why half of what they do looks full-on certifiable, to you or me or any sane adult. Things don’t make sense, when you’re that age; you don’t make sense. You stop expecting to.’

A second of silence. Her being right, me wishing she was wrong.

When he wanted something and he couldn’t get it, Holly had said. Not so nice.

‘That night,’ I said. ‘The night Joanne videoed. That was the last time Chris and Selena met up. If he did something to her . . .’

‘Yeah. It was that night.’

Silence, again. Under the body spray, I thought I caught a whiff of hyacinths.

‘What now?’ I asked.

‘Now we wait for Sophie to get us Chris’s phone records. I’m not talking to anyone else till I see what he was at last spring. Meanwhile, we do a proper search in here.’

In the corner of my eye: a flutter of darkness, behind the door-crack.

I had the door flung open before I knew I was moving. Alison squealed and leaped back, hands flapping wildly. In the background, McKenna took a protective pace forward.

‘Can I help you?’ I asked. My heart was going harder than it should have been. Conway eased away from the wall on the other side of the doorway – I hadn’t even seen her go for it. Even with no clue what I was at, she’d been straight in there, ready to back me up.

Alison stared. Said, like someone had taught her the line, ‘I need to get my books to do my homework please.’

‘No problem,’ I said. I felt like an eejit. ‘In you come.’

She sidled in like we might hit her, started pulling stuff out of her bag – her hands looked frail as water spiders, skittering over the books. McKenna stood in the doorway, being massive. Not liking us one little bit.

‘How’s the arm?’ I asked.

Alison shifted it away from me. ‘It’s OK. Thanks.’

‘Let’s see,’ Conway said.

Alison shot a glance at McKenna: she’d been told not to show it. McKenna nodded, reluctantly.

Alison pulled up her sleeve. The blisters were gone, but the skin where they’d been still had a bumpy look to it. The handprint had faded to pink. Alison had her head turned away.

‘Nasty,’ I said sympathetically. ‘My sister used to get allergies. Up her face and all, once. Turned out it was the washing powder our mammy was using. Did you figure out what did that, no?’

‘The cleaners must have switched to a new brand of hand soap.’ Another glance at McKenna. Another line learned off by heart.

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Must’ve done.’ Shared a look with Conway, let Alison catch it.

Alison tugged down her sleeve and started scooping up her books. Glanced once round the room, big-eyed, like we’d turned it into somewhere strange and untrustworthy, before she scuttled out.

McKenna said, ‘If you should wish to speak to me, Detectives – or to any more of the fourth-years – you will find us in the common room.’

Meaning the nun had ratted us out. McKenna was taking over the fourth-years, damage control or no, and we were getting no more interviews without an appropriate adult.

‘Miss McKenna,’ I said. Held out a hand to keep her back, while Alison straggled down the corridor towards the common room. Even on her own, the kid walked like she was trailing after someone. ‘We’ll need to speak to some of the girls without a teacher present. There are elements of this case that they wouldn’t be comfortable discussing in front of school staff. It’s only background to the investigation, but we need them to speak freely.’