Chapter 54

FIFTY-FOUR

Lottie’s knees hurt and her ankles screamed for rest as she reached up her hand and allowed Kirby to haul her out of the tunnel. She was glad to be out in the little daylight allowed by the thunderous skies overhead. But there was no relief. Her daughters were still missing.

‘Call in SOCOs,’ she instructed the detective.

‘What did you find?’ he asked.

Boyd hauled himself out beside Lottie. ‘A body. Skeleton really.’

Kirby scratched his drenched head. ‘Left over from the time of the old gaol?’

‘More recent than the nineteenth century, unless they wore Levi’s and checked shirts back then,’ Lottie said. While Kirby got on the phone, she checked her own. Nothing. ‘You sure my number is linked to this device?’

‘Didn’t McKeown fix it up?’ Boyd said.

‘Yeah.’ She shoved the phone back in her pocket and looked around for a car to take her back to the station. She didn’t think her legs could carry her much further.

She spied a squad car at the perimeter and made her way to it as Kirby began the process of erecting a cordon around the tunnel entrance. She twisted the plastic bag containing the two coins in her hand, and wondered what secrets the network of tunnels beneath Ragmullin had yet to yield.

Lottie’s throat felt dry and as sore as the rest of her body, and as she walked towards the interview room, her jeans began to steam.

‘I always knew you were hot, but you are positively steaming,’ Boyd said with a wink.

‘Now is not the time or the place, Boyd. Is Dowling in here?’

‘Ready and waiting. Doc says he’s fine. Not a scratch on him. Unlike the two of us.’

She took off her jacket and rolled it into a ball as McKeown came out of the interview room.

‘Has he said anything?’

‘Other than not to tell his mother, nothing.’

‘Not to tell her what?’

‘I presumed he meant that he was out, though he doesn’t strike me as the type of person to be afraid of his mother.’

‘I’ve met her. I don’t blame him.’

‘That bad, huh?’

‘Bad enough.’ She turned to Boyd. ‘Let’s get cracking. I want to hear what he knows about Katie and Chloe.’

Lottie opened the door and entered the small, suffocating room. The smell of the underground tunnel seemed to trail in with her, or maybe, she thought, it was emanating from Dowling. His elbows were on the table, with one hand propping up his head. His face was washed clean and his hands looked scrubbed. The same filthy clothes hung from his thin frame. He appeared to be asleep, but as she shoved her jacket into a corner, he sat upright.

‘Took your time,’ he said.

Boyd switched on the recording equipment and gave the time, date and names of those present.

‘Hey, hold on a minute,’ Dowling said. ‘Is this a formal interview? I’ve done nothing wrong. This is harassment.’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Lottie said.

‘Inspector.’ Boyd leaned his head to one side, indicating that they were being recorded.

Lottie stretched over the table. Eyeballed Dowling. ‘I don’t give a fiddler’s about you or your harassment. I want to know what you did with my daughters.’

‘I’d give them a good ride if I knew them.’

Lottie had to dig her nails into the palms of her hands so as not to reach out and slap the insolence off his face.

‘Why were you in the tunnel?’

‘Working, like I told you.’

‘On your own.’

‘Yes.’

‘Is that allowed by Health and Safety?’

‘Must be, because that’s what I was at.’

‘What type of work were you doing?’

‘Assessing the tunnel to make sure it wouldn’t collapse when the lift shaft was constructed.’

‘Are you qualified to do that?’

‘Yeah. Ask Tony Keegan. Or Bob Cleary. He’s the foreman, as you know.’

‘Cleary’s dead,’ she said. ‘As is Cyril Gill and a host of your work colleagues.’

‘Bad luck for them and good luck for me so.’

‘I think you ventured into that tunnel because you knew there was a body there.’

He opened his eyes wide. ‘A body? Where?’

Lottie slapped the desk so hard, even Boyd shuddered. ‘Don’t play silly buggers with me, Conor.’

He sniffed and shrugged. As he folded his arms, the smell of must and dampness grew stronger.

‘Answer me,’ she said.

‘Ask a question so.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Who?’

‘The body.’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Why were you in the tunnel?’

‘Working. I told you that already.’

‘I don’t buy it. Let me tell you what I think.’

‘Do I have a choice?’

‘I think you took advantage of the mayhem surrounding the crane accident to go down there and move the body that you put there in the first place.’

‘I didn’t know there’d been an accident until I tried to get out of the fucking place.’

‘What was the sequence of events?’

He let out a long, exhausted sigh. ‘I had a meeting with the foreman and the boss. Mr Gill was angry. He wanted to make sure I had nothing to do with his daughter’s murder. Which I hadn’t, for your information. After that, I left the office and started work. That’s it. Oh, I had a fag with Tony first. Ask him. He’ll tell you, if he’s still alive. Is he?’

‘Yes.’

Conor’s face sank into itself. Lottie couldn’t determine if he was pleased or not.

He continued. ‘Then I got stuck underground and had to find my way through the tunnels to try to get out. Lucky you guys turned up.’ He raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘Why were you there? Did you know I was trapped?’

Ignoring his question, Lottie said, ‘What about the body?’

Conor leaned back into his chair. ‘Are you trying to charge me with that as well as everything else?’

‘Just answer the bloody question,’ Boyd said.

Conor blew out a breath of sour air. ‘The body was there when I crawled through the hole in the bricks. I couldn’t get out the way I’d gone into the tunnel, so I had to keep going. But then I realised I was stuck. Only time I’ve been glad to see the guards.’

Lottie wished she had a notebook or file in front of her as a prop. With exhaustion eating its way into her bones, she needed all her energy to concentrate. Had he really just stumbled on the body like she had, or was something more sinister at play? Her gut told her he knew more than he was letting on. How to get him to admit it, though?

She said, ‘I found something interesting in that tomb, for want of a better word.’

‘Tomb?’

Was he really as dumb as he appeared? She was getting weary and getting nowhere. ‘Two silver coins.’

Studying his face intently, she thought his skin had paled, but she couldn’t be sure. A few ginger freckles dotted his nose; otherwise he was a deathly white.

‘Know nothing about them,’ he said, and chewed the inside of his cheek.

Time to change tactics. ‘I visited your mother yesterday.’

His cheeks turned red. Instantly. ‘My mother! What the fuck you going near her for?’

‘I called to your home because I actually wanted to talk to you.’

‘You leave my mother out of this.’

‘I had to check your alibi.’

‘What alibi?’

He was riled now. Good, she thought.

‘Your alibi for the murders of Amy Whyte and Penny Brogan. Also those of Louise Gill and Cristina Lee. Didn’t you say you were home with your mother last Saturday and Tuesday nights?’

‘I’m home every night. Not last night, of course, because I was stuck in a fucking dark hole.’

‘True.’

‘You stay away from my mother, you hear me?’ He thumped the table.

‘Are you threatening me, Mr Dowling?’

‘Don’t you mister me.’

Now that she had irritated him, Lottie changed direction. ‘Katie and Chloe. Do you know them?’

‘Who the hell are they?’

‘My daughters.’

‘God help them then.’

Boyd nudged Lottie’s ankle. She paid no attention to him. She was not going to rise to Dowling’s provocation. ‘My daughters have been abducted. I know you couldn’t have personally taken them, but maybe you know who might have.’

‘I don’t know a fucking thing about your daughters. You going to pin every crime that happens in this town on me now? You know what? I want my solicitor. Now. Right this fucking minute. I know my rights.’

‘I’m sure you do, having spent ten years in prison.’

‘For a crime I didn’t commit.’

‘You were tried and convicted.’

‘Doesn’t mean anything in this crooked country. You fitted me up then like you’re trying to do now. I don’t know where your poxy daughters are, but if you were my mother, I’d make sure I was never found.’

She warned herself not to let him spike her temper again. ‘You never offered an alibi for the Thompson assault and robbery. Why was that?’

‘No comment.’

‘You’re not going to start that, are you?’

‘No comment.’

A white lie never hurt anyone, so she decided to go for it. ‘I had a snoop around the shed in your mother’s back garden.’

The change in his demeanour was instantaneous. He leaped out of his chair, lunged across the table and grabbed Lottie’s hair. She screamed, more from shock than pain. Boyd jumped up and seized Dowling’s wrist, and together he and Lottie subdued the younger man.

‘You’re a sneaky bitch,’ Dowling spat. ‘I did ten years because of your incompetence, and I can guarantee you, I won’t do another second behind bars. The justice system in this country sucks. Sucks, do you hear me?’

‘Assault of a garda officer is a serious offence,’ Boyd said. ‘Sit down.’

Lottie was speechless. Her head throbbed and she noticed strands of her hair stuck between Dowling’s fingers.

After a few deep breaths, he seemed to realise the enormity of what he’d done, because he said, ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.’

Lottie swallowed what she really wanted to say. ‘I’ll consider your apology when you give us some information.’

He nodded, his shaven head gleaming with beads of perspiration.

She leaned over and whispered to Boyd to get the file on Amy Whyte. While they awaited his return, she continued to stare at Dowling’s bowed head. She recalled the young man in court, eyes wide with disbelief when he was convicted. Back then she’d felt a moment of panic. Had she got the right man? And now she felt the exact same thing. Forensics ten years ago were not what they were today. They had no physical evidence to link him to the assault and robbery, only two eyewitnesses who’d said they’d seen him rushing from the area. Corrigan had been an inspector then, and SIO. Had he led Lottie in a direction he wanted her to go? For an early resolution of the case? To detract from something more ominous? Maybe she needed to review that case. Once she had her daughters home.

The thought of Katie and Chloe being held against their will, or even worse, catapulted her back to reality. Boyd returned with the file. Opening it, Lottie slid a piece of paper across the table.

‘Look at this, Conor. I showed it to you before and you denied all knowledge of having sent it to Amy Whyte. Do you want to change that story?’

He read aloud. ‘“I am watching you.”’

‘And?’

His shoulders slumped as he shoved the page back at her. ‘Okay. Right. Yes. I did write the note. Happy now?’

She glanced sideways at Boyd. He gave her a discreet thumbs-up.

‘When did you send it?’

‘A week after I was released from prison. Just wanted to scare her. I know she lied about seeing me that night.’

‘Why did she lie?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘And the coin?’

‘What coin?’

‘The one that was in the envelope with the note.’

His eyes told her he hadn’t a clue what she was talking about.

‘I don’t know anything about a coin.’ He stared at the note before lifting his eyes to hers. ‘There wasn’t an envelope either.’

‘So how did you get the note to her?’

‘Dropped it into the pharmacy where she worked. Have you a copy of the back of it?’

Where was he going with this? Lottie took a second page from the file. AMY was scrawled on one half, as if the note had been folded in two and her name written on the outside. She had noticed this before but hadn’t paid it much heed. After all, the note had been in an envelope when she found it.

‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I went into the pharmacy thinking Amy would be there. I wanted to look her in the eye when I handed the note to her, but there was no one behind the counter. I heard a door open somewhere, and before I knew what I was doing, I’d left it on the counter and fled. That’s the truth. No envelope. No coin.’

‘Who did you give it to?’

‘Told you, I just left it there. Didn’t see anyone. I dropped it and got out as quick as I could. Can I go now?’

‘No, you cannot.’

‘Look, Inspector, I had no reason to kill any of those girls.’

‘Louise and Amy’s eyewitness accounts got you convicted.’

‘Louise visited me in prison. She told me she was sorry. She didn’t give me any details, but she did say that she would do her best to make it right. I did not assault or rob Bill Thompson, and if Louise had come clean, I would have been exonerated. Why would I kill her?’

Why indeed? Lottie thought. ‘You never offered a defence at the time. Why?’

He shrugged and bowed his head.

‘Why did you leave that note for Amy?’

‘I was in a foul mood. Feeling sorry for myself. Wanted her to experience a little of what it was like for me in prison. In there, eyes are on you twenty-four seven. That’s all. I swear to God.’

Could she believe him? If she did, then she’d made an unforgivable cock-up ten years ago. Or rather her boss, Corrigan, had. And if Dowling hadn’t carried out the assault on Thompson, then who had?