No Safe Place(Detective Lottie Parker #4)(40)

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Lottie was away from the office no longer than an hour and a half, but on her return to base, she noted the incident boards had filled up. She looked at the list of tools that had been taken from the cemetery for examination. She was particularly interested in getting the results of the analysis from the spade that they’d discovered propped up beside the digger used to excavate the graves. It seemed to be an opportune tool with which to heap clay and dirt on top of Elizabeth.

‘I’ve just come from the Dead House.’ She stood in front of the boards, facing her team, and pointed at Elizabeth Byrne’s photograph. ‘This girl was asphyxiated by clay. Buried alive.’ She outlined the injuries Elizabeth had suffered. ‘I want to know as soon as DNA and fingerprint results come in for that spade, and also the stone we found with blood on.’ She directed her gaze to Kirby. ‘You took Bernard Fahy’s DNA sample, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, and also from John Gilbey, the other man who was working there.’

‘Any matches?’

‘Nothing on PULSE, but we haven’t yet run them against the blood and tools found at the scene.’ Kirby shifted his buttocks on the narrow creaky chair.

‘Did you check their alibis?’

‘Fahy’s wife confirms he was at home all Monday evening and that night. But wives tend to cover for their husbands. John Gilbey lives in a hostel. I’ll follow up on his whereabouts for the relevant time.’

‘Okay, do that. The search of the caretaker’s office has yielded nothing so far. I didn’t expect it would, but I’ve instructed SOCOs to check it out, and I’ll have a nose around later on.’

‘It’s more likely she was in the car that stopped outside, rather than in the building,’ Kirby said.

‘Bring up the CCTV footage.’

Kirby tapped the laptop on his knee. Lottie flipped around one of the whiteboards and the grainy images flashed onto it.

‘As you can see, there was a car, possibly the killer’s, parked there for twenty-four minutes,’ Kirby said.

‘Our own traffic cams are being checked for the relevant times to see if we can locate the vehicle,’ Lottie added.

Lynch said, ‘I’ve assigned a uniform to that. I’ll review and report to you if anything turns up.’

Lottie thought Lynch looked considerably paler than yesterday. Hopefully she wasn’t coming down with a bug. They needed all the bodies they could get to cover this investigation.

She continued. ‘Today, I want the residents at the nursing home interviewed, especially those with rooms facing the cemetery. And the staff. Kirby, have you the data from the house-to-house?’

‘I’ve checked all the reports. No one saw or heard anything. It was the middle of the night, after all. Traveller site residents give the same story, except for Bridie McWard hearing the screaming.’

‘Her evidence ties in with the CCTV footage and the pathologist’s estimate of time of death. It gives us a time frame to work with. We can deduce that Elizabeth caught the 17.10 from Connolly station, because she was seen by two commuters on the train. They got off at Enfield. To date we’ve discovered no further sighting. Just the screams heard by Bridie McWard at 3.15 a.m.’

‘Maybe Bridie had a nightmare,’ Lynch piped up.

‘It’s possible, but she seemed fairly shaken when I spoke to her,’ Lottie said. ‘Right, I want you and Kirby to do the interviews at the nursing home. Take uniformed officers with you so that you can get it finished quickly.’

‘Boss, we were on stakeout last night. Up in the Munbally estate. Need to get a bit of shut-eye,’ Kirby moaned.

‘Oh right. On that matter, our acting superintendent wants you to cease that operation.’

‘But we—’

‘I’m just telling you what I’ve been ordered.’

‘Such a waste of time,’ Kirby grumbled, patting his pockets. He took out an e-cigarette and jammed it into his mouth.

‘You didn’t have many results, did you?’ Lottie said. ‘Now, on to Carol O’Grady. She was Elizabeth’s friend so I think we should have another word with her. See if we can find out more about Elizabeth and anyone that might have had an interest in her.’

‘Carol’s brother is a bit iffy,’ Boyd said.

‘Terry O’Grady,’ Lottie said, checking her notes. ‘Pull his details from PULSE, and you and I will chat with Carol. Give her a call to see if she’s at home or at work.’ She paused and studied the two images of Elizabeth Byrne, dead and alive. ‘And Matt Mullin, the ex-boyfriend. Any luck, Lynch?’

‘I’ve been trying to chase him up,’ Lynch said, pulling at her eyelids. Just as well McMahon had halted the traveller job. Lottie needed her team awake.

‘Did you try the bank again this morning?’

‘They were very cagey, but at least they gave me a mobile number for him. He’s not answering. I’ll get back onto the bank and see what the story is.’

‘Check if his family know where he is, and see if his passport has been used.’

‘Will do.’

‘Anything from Elizabeth’s mobile phone?’

‘It’s inactive. Dead. I’m trying to get the service provider to determine where and when it was last used,’ Boyd said.