No Safe Place(Detective Lottie Parker #4)(89)

‘The body was that of a female in her mid thirties,’ Lottie continued, trying to keep her tone sympathetic. ‘We found nothing on it to allow us to make a visual identification. It was only this morning that her DNA was matched to a woman on the missing persons list.’

‘DNA? What DNA?’

‘Shut up, Finn.’ Cillian nudged his brother in the chest with his elbow. ‘Let her speak. You can ask your questions later.’

Thank God, Lottie thought. Someone talking sense at last.

‘Without the DNA match, we had no reason to believe the body was that of Lynn. As you know, ten years missing usually means that the person is deceased.’

‘She’s deceased now,’ Donal muttered.

‘But it can’t be Lynn,’ Cillian said. ‘She was only twenty-five. You say this woman was in her thirties.’

‘I’m sorry but it is Lynn. We believe she was held somewhere for the last ten years.’

‘Where? Where was our Lynn?’ Finn said.

‘We’re trying to find that out.’

‘Was she murdered?’ He continued with his questions despite the daggers Cillian was throwing at him with his eyes.

‘There’s no evidence of murder. Not from the preliminary post-mortem results. It’s possible she died of natural causes.’

‘Nothing natural about being out at Barren Point on a cold February night.’ Donal was pulling at his chin.

‘It’s early days yet—’

‘It’s a decade too late, that’s what it is.’

‘Mr O’Donnell, we’re doing our best to get answers.’

‘You didn’t do your best back then; how can we believe you now?’

Lottie sighed and glanced at Boyd for help.

He straightened his back. ‘The body was washed in bleach and wrapped in black bin bags, which were then ripped open, leaving her body exposed to the weather and wildlife.’

Jesus, Boyd, Lottie thought, there was no need to be so blunt. But she didn’t blame him. The family were not displaying the emotions she would have expected. The overriding emotion in the room, the one she felt more forcefully than any other, was resentment; maybe anger. That usually came a couple of days later. After shock and sorrow. There was something else too. An underlying sensation that she couldn’t identify. Not yet. Later, maybe.

‘You’re a bad bastard,’ Finn shouted.

Freeing himself from the constraints of the bodies on the couch, he lunged at Boyd. His fist connected before Lottie could get her hands out of her pockets. As she moved, Cillian grabbed his brother in an armlock and wrestled him to the floor.

‘Shut your mouth,’ he snarled. ‘You’re an eejit. Assaulting a guard. What do you think you’re doing?’

‘I’m going to kill the fucker.’

‘Boys! Shut up!’ Donal stood and put a foot on Finn’s back. ‘You’re a disgrace to your sister’s memory. And to your poor mother.’

When Lottie glanced Boyd’s way, he was rubbing his cheek and eye socket, glaring at the men on the floor. She placed a hand on his arm and held him back. Things were bad enough without him retaliating.

‘Did Lynn have a baby?’ Lottie asked.

Finn got to his feet.

She scanned the men’s faces. All three registered varying degrees of the same expression. Horror.

At last, Donal spoke. ‘Not that I know of. Why?’

‘We suspect she had given birth.’

‘This just gets worse,’ he said. ‘Is there a child out there somewhere?’

‘I intend to find out,’ Lottie said. ‘One final thing.’ She opened the flap on her bag and took out a piece of paper. ‘This was found … on the body. Do you recognise it?’

‘What’s that?’ Donal said. ‘Where did you get it? I don’t understand.’

‘It’s a photograph of a sterling silver Claddagh ring. Does it mean anything to you?’

The O’Donnells remained tight-lipped, shaking their heads. A dead loss to pursue it now, but Lottie knew it meant something to them. Their faces told that story.

‘Look, you’re all in shock,’ she said, though that wasn’t the word she wanted to use. ‘We’ll call back later. Give you time to get your heads around this awful news. Let me know if you remember anything about the ring. Make some tea and talk to each other.’

‘Tea? Tea, she says,’ Finn said, his voice coming to life. ‘I know what I’d like to do with a pot of boiling tea. And drinking it isn’t on my agenda.’

The naked anger in his words stunned Lottie. She had to get out, and quickly. Otherwise she, not Boyd, would be the one lashing out.





Seventy-Seven





It had started to drizzle while they’d been inside, and the temperature had risen a little.

‘I’m going to see Queenie McWard,’ Lottie said. ‘I’ll drop you at the office. Find out what else Kirby has dug up.’ She crossed the road to the car park.

‘I need a doctor.’ Boyd was still rubbing his cheek.

‘You won’t die. But if you really feel you need one …’

‘That lunatic should be locked up.’