No Safe Place(Detective Lottie Parker #4)(60)
A knot of anxiety twisted in her stomach. She never forgot things. Her life had to be ordered, otherwise she couldn’t cope. Deep breaths. She found her inhaler. At least she had that. A few puffs and the shaking in her hands ceased. Her throat was still clogged. Another puff and she put the inhaler back in her bag. Searched for her anxiety pills. She’d forgotten those too. With all the talk of Mollie, her mind was not as focused as it should be.
Feeling annoyed with herself, she looked up, and that was when she saw him. Sitting at the other end of the carriage. Staring. As she slipped her bag onto her knee, goose bumps popped up along her arms. Her first thought was that she wished she could call Mark. The second was that she had to find Mollie.
Fifty-Two
At the gates to the airport security area, Katie held out an envelope.
‘What’s this?’ Lottie said.
‘I only spent about a hundred euros. I want you to have the rest.’ Katie pressed the envelope into her hand. ‘I withdrew it from the bank. For you.’
‘But you need spending money. You’ll be going shopping. Oh Katie, you have to go to Woodbury Common. We were there when you were little. Do you remember?’
‘Don’t worry about me. I kept a little, and I won’t be doing much shopping. Tom says he wants to spend time with his grandson, and of course with me.’
‘I can’t take this.’
‘You can. Treat yourself, and Chloe wants that balayage so badly, and I’m sure Sean could do with new training gear or something. Spend it. Don’t feel guilty thinking it’s Tom Rickard’s money. It’s my gift to you for being the best mother ever. You’ve put up with all the shit I’ve thrown at you since Dad died; for once, let me do something for you.’
Lottie nodded. ‘You have to see the Empire State Building, and don’t forget Central Park.’ Her voice cracked, and she pushed away memories of her trips to New York with Adam. The time they went on their own, before the children were born. She’d suffered severe vertigo at the top of the Empire State, couldn’t look out over the edge of the viewing gantry. Adam had had to practically carry her down in the elevator.
She hugged little Louis, kissed his hair and fingers and nose, inhaling his baby smell, before Chloe took him for her own hugs.
Katie enveloped Lottie in her arms. ‘Don’t be worrying about me, Mam. I’m only going for three weeks. Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
After hugging Chloe, Katie moved to her brother. Tall, awkward Sean hesitated for a moment, then smothered his sister in a bear hug, and suddenly they were all crying, tears of happiness for Katie and loneliness for themselves.
‘Ah, guys, come on,’ Katie said, taking Louis back and strapping him into his stroller, ‘I’ll have to do my mascara again.’ She fixed the baby bag on the handles and hoisted her rucksack onto her shoulder.
‘Drama queen,’ Chloe said.
‘Look who’s talking.’ Sean nudged her.
Normal service has resumed, Lottie thought.
As she turned to head for the car park with Chloe and Sean by her side, she felt a hollowness lined with a tinge of fear etch into a corner of her heart. It would not dislodge until her family were all back together, whenever that might be.
* * *
She was already late for the team meeting by the time she’d dropped Chloe and Sean at school and returned home to pick up the cold case file. She’d read most of it after returning from the lake last night, managing about an hour’s sleep before she had to get up for the airport. Exhaustion gnawed her bones, which didn’t bode well for the remainder of the day. Outside the incident room, she swallowed half a Xanax and hoped for the best.
McMahon was at the front of the room, commanding the team meeting, when she blustered in the door.
‘At last you decide to grace us with your presence,’ he said, gripping his chin with his thumb and index finger.
Lottie glared at Boyd. Had he not made up some plausible excuse for her absence?
‘I’m here now,’ she said.
Dredging up her confidence, with a buzz in her head from the pill, she marched through the gathered detectives and uniformed officers, stealing a glance at the incident boards. A shadowy photograph of the body found in the woods by the lake had been added.
‘So you are,’ McMahon said. ‘And my arrival in this district has been met with not one but two murders. I’m beginning to believe the media when they say Ragmullin is a nightmare town.’
‘And what media would that be?’ Lottie asked, trying to gather her thoughts.
McMahon glared. ‘I had a visit from the television crime correspondent, Cynthia Rhodes. I believe you’ve met her. She paints a very dim picture of this town.’
‘She must be a damn bad artist then.’ Lottie banged her bag onto the floor and bundled her jacket on top of it.
Kirby snickered, and Lottie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.
‘As senior investigating officer, I’ll take over here,’ she said.
She waited until McMahon had stepped to one side with a smirk on his face. What was that all about? Pointing to the first photograph on the board, she began.
‘Elizabeth Byrne. Last physical sighting was on Monday, when she clocked out of her office at 16.00 hours. We have CCTV image from Connolly station placing her there at 17.00. The train departed at 17.10 and arrived in Ragmullin at 18.20. Her body was found on Wednesday morning in the cemetery as a funeral was about to take place. You have the times and details of the relevant interviews. One lead we have is from Bridie McWard, who lives on the traveller site. She claims to have heard screaming at 3.15 a.m. on Tuesday. The post-mortem findings agree that this was the approximate time of death. Bridie has subsequently been the subject of an attack in her home. Unclear if it is connected or not, but a verbal threat was made during the assault.’