Chapter 99

99

Garda Thornton called Lottie to one side as she entered the station with Kirby.

‘Charlie Lennon is in Interview Room 1. You wanted to see her.'

‘Great, thanks. I need to shower and change my clothes, but feck it.' She spied Boyd coming in the main door. ‘Boyd, you're with me. Work your charm. She likes you.'

‘Who likes me?'

‘Interview Room 1. Let's go.' As they walked, she added, ‘Do I smell as bad as you?'

‘Why are we…?'

His question petered out as McKeown came trundling towards them waving sheets of paper. ‘I found something. You have to see it.'

‘Can it wait? I want to interview Charlie Lennon now. I have to see if she remembers Shannon Kenny viewing Pine Grove. Jess said… What is it, McKeown?'

‘You've Charlie Lennon in there?'

‘Yep. Why?'

‘Look at this first.'

The interview room never had enough air circulating. Constantly stuffy and too hot. Lottie assumed it was designed to make suspects sweat out a confession. Outside, the weather was cold, but inside she felt totally overdressed, and the smoky odour travelled up her nose. She tugged off her sweater, balled it up on her knee, and rested her hands on the table, calming her breathing in order to face off Charlie Lennon.

Originally she'd wanted to find out if what Jess had told her last evening was true, but after McKeown's discovery, the interview had taken on a new importance. As she handed the folder to Boyd, she noticed that her nails were clogged with soot.

‘Hello, Charlie,' Boyd said politely. ‘We're recording this interview. You're free to leave at any time. We're just after some information.'

‘That's totally fine. I want to help if I can. It sounded urgent when I picked up the message from my answering service this morning.'

She smiled sweetly, but Lottie noticed how quickly the expression disappeared from her face when Boyd lowered his head to switch on the machine.

Charlie was dressed casually while still managing to look like a model: denim jeans, her white shirt immaculately ironed, a sweater tied loosely around her shoulders. Her hair was loose, slightly damp from a recent shower. She looked twenty-six rather than forty-six. Must be Botox, Lottie thought.

‘We appreciate you helping us out.' Boyd had the charm offensive in spades. ‘We need to ask you about last Friday afternoon. We met you around half three at Pine Grove to view the show home. What time did you arrive?'

‘Oh, I was there earlier than that. I had a chat with Patrick, the site manager, in his office.'

‘Do you know what time that was?'

‘I've no idea. Sure, it's days ago now.'

‘Did you meet or see anyone else at the site office?'

‘I can't recall. Gordon Collins may have been there, or maybe that was after… you know, after we found the body.'

‘And did you see John Morgan that morning before we found him dead?' Boyd was so polite, but if Charlie professed not to remember one more time, Lottie thought she'd slap her.

‘Not that I recall.' Charlie's lips were pursed and she no longer looked like a model. There was something simmering beneath the surface, Lottie was sure of it. Time for her to jump in.

‘What was your relationship with John Morgan?'

Slowly Charlie turned to face her. ‘Relationship? I had no relationship with him. He was just a lad working on the site.'

‘But you must have met him when you were in and out to the site?'

‘I dealt with prospective clients there. On occasion I met with Gordon or Patrick.'

‘Really?'

‘What's that supposed to mean?' Charlie was unsettled, Lottie could hear it in her tone.

‘I find it hard to believe that when you were around the site, you never passed the time of day with John or had a chat.'

‘I didn't say that. I said that I cannot rec?—'

‘Yeah, yeah. You can't recall.' Lottie folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

‘I don't like your attitude, Inspector,' Charlie snapped. ‘I'm here of my own free will and I think I'd like to leave now.'

Boyd interjected. ‘Charlie, I'd appreciate if you could hold on. We've just a couple more questions.'

‘Okay, sure.' The saccharine smile was plastered back in place.

‘We went through a lot of camera footage around Pine Grove. Can you look at this?' He slid a photo from the file and slid it across the table. ‘This is you, Charlie.'

‘Looks like me.'

‘Do you know where that is?' Boyd asked.

‘Yes, it's the lane by the back entrance to the show home.'

‘Do you see the date and time?'

‘I'm not blind.'

‘That's the morning of John Morgan's death.'

‘So?'

‘So,' Lottie piled in, ‘you never told us you were there that early.'

‘Well, this makes it obvious I was.'

‘What were you doing there?'

‘Probably making sure the house was presentable for viewers.'

‘Did you open the front door to anyone?' Lottie kept her eyes glued to Charlie's face. Would she spout ‘I don't recall' again, or was she clever enough to realise they knew exactly who she'd let into the house.

‘Oh God!' She clamped a hand to her mouth. Too dramatically for Lottie's liking. ‘I remember now. There was a socket loose in the kitchen. I rang the site office and this young lad came to fix it. It must have been John.' Her face was contorted in confusion. ‘Does that mean I was the last person to see him alive? Other than his killer?'

‘Seems so.'

‘Gosh, I left him working there. If you have the footage of me entering the house, you will have it of me leaving the same way. Was the killer caught on camera too?'

Lottie wondered if McKeown had run the footage on both the rear and front of the house for the entire day. She hadn't asked and he hadn't said.

‘I'll check your story with the site office. Who did you speak to there about the socket?'

‘Might have been John himself, but I can't recall now.'

After a pause, Lottie decided to forge ahead.

‘Did Shannon Kenny ever view the show home?'

‘Who is she?'

‘She's missing, presumed abducted.'

‘You think she also viewed Pine Grove? I'll have to check the office diary. One of my colleagues might have dealt with her.' Charlie looked from one detective to the other, confusion knitting her brows into anxious curves. ‘What's going on?'

‘Her friend says you showed Shannon around sometime last year.'

‘I can't remember everyone off the top of my head.'

‘You've that many prospective buyers, huh?'

‘Not everyone who views intends to buy.' Charlie looked pointedly at Lottie. ‘Some people like to snoop. Time-wasters.'

Lottie bristled at the dig.

Boyd laid two more photos on the table, Shannon and Laura. ‘We're trying to find a link between the victims. Pine Grove is our best bet so far.'

Lottie kicked him under the table. This was not the time to show their hand.

Charlie shook her head. ‘This is awful.' She pulled Laura's photo towards her. ‘I seem to remember her. She was moaning about how expensive it was. A definite time-waster. Never saw her again. That's why the name didn't ring any bells with me.'

‘And Shannon?' Boyd pointed to the girl's photo.

Pursing her lips, Charlie shook her head. ‘I'm not sure at all. I'll let you know later, once I'm back at the office.'

Lottie took the folder from Boyd. She slid out Aneta's photo. ‘What about this girl?'

Charlie hesitated, glancing at the photo. ‘You showed me this already, and I checked. As far as I know, she didn't view the house.'

‘She had a Pine Grove brochure in her possession.' Lottie had to be careful. She couldn't relate what Gordon Collins had told her about his relationship to Aneta. It needed to be verified, and anyhow it had nothing to do with Charlie Lennon.

‘That doesn't mean anything. Those brochures are everywhere.'

‘She was working at Cuan rehab centre.' Lottie passed over another photo. The group photo taken by Greg Plunkett on donor day. ‘That's you there.'

‘Yes. It was a big shindig. Gordon asked me along. He said there'd be wealthy people there and I might be able to do a little scouting for sales.'

‘Mm…' Lottie played it as if she knew something else. ‘You never told us you were there.'

‘Did you even ask?'

Good question. Lottie glanced at Boyd, who shrugged. She pointed to a young woman standing in the background of the photo. ‘That's Aneta.'

‘The dead girl?' Hesitating, Charlie considered the photo. ‘I've no recollection of her being there. I was more interested in people with money.'

Lottie clenched her fists under the table. Christ Almighty, but the woman was grating on her nerves.

Charlie said, ‘Are you done? I want to leave now.'

Nodding her assent, Lottie waited for Boyd to sign off for the recording and switch off the machine.

‘Thanks for all your help,' she said.

Charlie stood and tightened the sweater at her throat. ‘I'll help in any way I can, but I don't like your tone, Inspector. I've done nothing wrong.' With that, she left the interview room.

Lottie and Boyd turned to each other.

‘What are we not seeing here?' she said.