No Safe Place(Detective Lottie Parker #4)(113)

He choked the sob back down his throat.

He had fought long and hard to rescue young lads from the dangerous underworld after he lost his brother. Now he had to do something about the ill his people were suffering. He didn’t know what yet, but he would not be broken completely.

He turned at the sound of footsteps behind him. A priest stood there, his eyes twinkling in the light of the moon.

‘Hello, Paddy. I’m Father Joe Burke. I know something of the torment you’re suffering. I’m a good listener if you’d like to talk.’

‘You know what, Father, I think that would be a good thing.’





One Hundred





Boyd had a large white plaster taped down his jaw.

‘Goes well with the bruise on the other side,’ Lottie said. ‘That Finn really didn’t like you.’

‘It’s not funny. It’s painful.’ Boyd looked up as an ambulance siren wailed outside the A&E before cutting out.

Lottie checked the message on her phone again. ‘That should be them.’

Boyd rushed forward as the paramedics unloaded the stretcher, secured the wheels and pushed past them. Boyd grabbed Grace’s hand and followed the stretcher inside.

‘She’s going to be okay,’ Lottie said.

But Boyd was gone.



* * *



Back in the office, Lottie tried to make sense of what had happened in the old nursing home. Finn and Cillian had been arrested, though she now suspected that Cillian had not been involved in the abduction of their sister. That was all Finn. And he had wreaked havoc on the McWards because of his insane jealousy. She still had to interview Carol and take her statement. But once Finn started talking, he would be charged with rape along with his other crimes.

Mollie was in hospital, as was Grace, and both were expected to recover physically. Their mental health was another issue. Boyd’s mother had arrived from Galway, so Lottie expected him to return to the office any minute.

The door opened and in he walked.

‘You look like shit,’ he said and pulled out a chair and flopped down.

‘You can talk,’ Lottie said. ‘Is Grace okay? Are you okay?’

‘She’ll be fine. It’s hard when your family is involved,’ he said.

‘You can say that again.’

‘It’s hard—’

‘Boyd!’ She stretched her legs out under her desk. Her foot snagged on the strap of her bag and she dragged it towards her. She’d forgotten to bring it home last night, so she still had the envelope containing Katie’s money. One thing that had survived the fire.

‘That O’Donnell family was seriously dysfunctional,’ she said.

‘I can’t help thinking that Carol could have prevented Elizabeth’s death if she had reported the rape.’

‘Wasn’t her fault. She was terrified. Like a lot of rape victims, she thought it was her own fault, and to complicate things, she believed it was her lover, Cillian, who’d raped her. She kept quiet thinking she was protecting him.’

‘Poor girl.’

‘And when his nut of a brother realised he’d lost the chain and ring, he started searching and questioning, seeking out anyone Carol was in contact with.’ Lottie sighed.

‘But it all started with Lynn falling in love with Paddy McWard, whose only crime was being born into a community despised by the O’Donnell men.’ Boyd slammed the desk in frustration. ‘Prejudice!’

‘No, it started before then. Jealousy between two brothers. Jealousy within their family.’

Kirby barged in the door. ‘Sorry, boss. We found a body.’

‘Where? Who? Everyone is accounted for.’

‘On the train tracks. Just by the cemetery. Reports came in a half-hour ago.’ Kirby was out of breath.

‘Who is it?’

Kirby placed a photo on Lottie’s desk. ‘That’s his photo, from the incident board. He was hit by the evening train.’

‘Matt Mullin,’ Lottie said. ‘Poor man.’

‘When Grace is well enough, I’ll get her to have a look at his photograph,’ Boyd said. ‘It was probably Mullin who caused Mollie to move seats and sit beside her.’

‘Thanks, Kirby,’ Lottie said. ‘Will you inform his mother? Take a family liaison officer with you.’

‘Will do. Oh, one other thing, boss. SOCOs have been going over Finn O’Donnell’s car. Found flecks of skin in the footwell and on the front and back seats.’

‘Links Finn directly to Elizabeth Byrne. She suffered from psoriasis.’

‘DNA should link him to Carol’s rape,’ Boyd said. ‘Where’s his brother now?’

‘We released him on bail, so he’s probably at home, either patching things up with Keelan or packing his bags. Either way, Cillian did nothing wrong that we can prove, yet.’

‘Not unless Keelan makes an official complaint for domestic abuse.’

‘Time will tell,’ Lottie said.

‘But how did he know Finn was at the old nursing home?’ Boyd rubbed his jaw, and winced as his fingers snagged on the plaster.

‘His story is that he was out at the lake with Carol and she told him about being raped. When she mentioned the chain with the ring, he immediately suspected his brother. He knew there were only two places Finn had an interest in. One was the old railway, so he checked that first, and then he made his way to Finn’s other favourite haunt. The old nursing home.’