Chapter 57

57

Kirby sat at his desk reading over his notes, scratching his head. Who was this Shannon Kenny, with her connections to two murder victims? Laura Nolan was registered with the agency, and John Morgan had been in rehab with Shannon. Were those connections important, or were they just coincidences? The fact that Shannon knew John Morgan from her stint in rehab was interesting. Had she met him since then? Whatever about that, the Right One agency needed another look. He decided to pay Greg Plunkett a visit.

He went to Barrack Lane and rang the bell. There was no answer. Of course, it was Sunday. Damn. One more try.

Keeping his finger pressed on the bell, he waited. No one responded. Back in his car, he searched for a cigar in the glove box. Amy was constantly hiding them, telling him they were bad for him. Usually he just smiled, knowing he had a secret stash, and when the coast was clear he'd go out to the garden for an illicit puff.

He was giving up on his search when a shadow from across the road caught his eye. A man had come out of the Right One office. Kirby recognised him from his photo and watched as he tightened a tartan scarf around his neck and made his way on foot down the street.

Plunkett stopped beside a car illegally parked on double yellows. He took a parking ticket from under the wiper and stuffed it in his pocket without looking at it, as if this was a regular occurrence. The lights flashed as he hit a key fob. He slid into the Toyota something-or-other. McKeown would know the make, bastard. Nothing too flashy. Business mustn't be that great in the photography/modelling/escort business, Kirby thought. Or maybe he wasn't looking to attract attention.

He waited to see which direction Plunkett would head, but the man remained seated in his car, staring at the steering wheel. Nothing for it but to have that chat now.

Plunkett literally jumped in his seat at the knock on the window. Kirby indicated with his hand that the man should lower it, then leaned down, resting both elbows on the opening.

‘Mr Plunkett, can I have a word?'

‘Who are you?'

‘Detective Larry Kirby.' He held up his ID. ‘Just need to clear up a few things. Can I sit in? Or shall we head up to the station?'

Plunkett nodded towards the passenger seat. ‘Be my guest.'

Once he was settled on the cold seat, Kirby twisted his body to study the man. Plunkett was shaking. ‘Is there something wrong? You look scared.'

‘You'd be scared too if a fa… a detective accosted you, wanting "a word".'

He even did the air quotes. Gobshite.

‘I didn't accost you. You've nothing to be afraid of if you haven't done anything wrong. Have you?'

‘Of course I've done nothing wrong. This is harassment. Two of your colleagues already talked to me. Isn't that enough? What more can I tell you? It's tragic about poor Laura, but I had nothing to do with it.'

‘Tell me what you know about Shannon Kenny?'

‘Shannon?' Plunkett's eyes widened and his hands faffed about in the air, seemingly flustered. ‘Why are you asking about her?'

‘It's my job to ask the questions.'

‘All right, I know of Shannon. So what?'

‘How do you know her?'

‘She's one of my girls.' Plunkett's face reddened. ‘I mean, she's registered with my agency.'

‘When did you last see her?'

‘Ages ago. We only speak on the phone. Message online. Work stuff.'

‘And when did you last speak with her?'

He seemed to relax, planting his hands on the steering wheel. ‘Yesterday. Mid morning, I think it was. I wanted to see if she was interested in meeting someone new. She'd been with a guy earlier in the week who didn't treat her well, so I believe. Because you lot had been talking to me, I decided to speak to her first before putting someone else her way.'

‘I'll need that person's name.'

‘First tell me what's going on.'

‘In a minute. That bad experience she had the other night, what happened?'

‘Nothing much really.' Plunkett blew out his cheeks as if deciding what he should say. ‘She's a bit of a drama queen. Said the guy promised her dinner but they only had drinks and he was flirting with everyone. She's a beautiful young woman and should be making something of herself.'

Kirby figured Plunkett knew nothing of Shannon's troubled past. He kept quiet about it. ‘I'll need that guy's details. Did Shannon agree to the date last night?'

‘She agreed that I could forward her contact details. With you lot snooping around my website, I felt it was better not to have contact made through it.'

‘Did this date go ahead?'

‘I've no idea. I sent her number to the guy and heard nothing back.'

‘Don't you check in to make sure the girls are okay after these dates?'

‘They're adults. They don't need hand-holding.'

‘After all that's happened, maybe they do. You could be putting these young women in harm's way.'

‘What do you mean? Has something happened to Shannon?'

‘She's been reported missing, and Laura Nolan is dead. Two of your girls , as you call them. It might be no harm if you paused your business for the time being. At least until we can guarantee the safety of the young women.'

‘Shit. Shannon is missing? How? I spoke to her yesterday. She can't be missing.'

‘We need your full client list, with the names of those Shannon had most recent contact with. We're in the process of getting a warrant signed, but it'd be a great help if you could supply them without one.'

‘Sure. But Cathy is off and she knows it better than me. She can send it tomorrow.'

‘I'm certain you can do it today.'

‘I'll go back in now and see what I can do.'

‘Appreciate it.' Kirby handed over his card. He lumbered out of the car and leaned on the roof while Plunkett got out and zapped the car locked.

‘I have nothing to do with what's going on,' he said. ‘You have to believe me.'

‘Just send me on those names. Oh, and by the way, you need to provide an alibi for Thursday and Saturday nights.'

Unable to locate the boss, McKeown parked his discovery about the young boy on the CCTV footage while he had another look at John Morgan. He had Pine Grove doorbell footage to check but for now he needed a change from that sort of work.

Brenda Morgan had accessed her son's online banking and emailed over his bank statements. He went through them and hit on a transaction from a London bank, presumably his mother's. The next day the money went out to Cuan rehab. The boss had mentioned Cuan, but he felt he'd read about it somewhere else. Where, though?

He clicked open tabs on his computer and found it. He sent it and the bank statement to the printer. Dragging the pages as they completed, he burst into the boss's office. Still empty. He was debating phoning her when Kirby ambled into the room, huffing and puffing.

‘Hey, Kirby, where's the boss?'

‘God only knows. Why?'

‘Have a look at this.' McKeown settled on the edge of Kirby's desk while the other detective took a quick look at the statement.

Kirby took off his coat. ‘So? We know Morgan was in rehab. And his mother paid for it, so that's not news.'

‘But have a look at this.' McKeown handed over the second page. ‘Note who is the largest donor to Cuan.' He smirked as he watched Kirby read.

‘What about it? He donates to charity. It's a tax thing. No big deal.'

‘But Gordon Collins is in financial difficulties. Why was he donating to Cuan?'

‘Is it even relevant?'

‘I think it's very relevant.' McKeown eyed his colleague. ‘Hey, you know something, don't you? Spill.'

Kirby puffed out his cheeks. ‘The missing woman, Shannon Kenny, was in Cuan for around three months last year. She met John Morgan there. And, like Laura Nolan, Shannon was on that Right One website.'

‘Holy shit.' McKeown thought of the connections they were making. ‘What if Laura Nolan was in Cuan rehab too? That would definitively link the victims.'

‘But what about the woman whose body was found this morning? And there's no evidence to point to Shannon Kenny being a victim yet. She just hasn't come home after a night out. It's not the first time she's done it.'

‘Come on, Kirby. We already have three murders. You have to admit it's suspicious.'

‘How do we go about finding out if Laura Nolan was ever in rehab?'

‘I can ask her mother, but first we need to tell the boss. Where is she?'

‘God knows. Might be a family emergency.' Kirby scratched his head. ‘Where's Boyd, come to think of it? I'll phone their mobiles.'

‘We also need to see how Gordon Collins fits into the mix with these charitable donations.' McKeown stalled, starting to doubt the significance of his find. ‘Thing is, they were above board.'

‘How did you find out about them?'

‘I remembered I'd seen something about Cuan when I was checking up on Collins. Googled the article and up comes the bold Gordon in the local paper handing over a cheque,' McKeown said. ‘I'm trying the boss again.'