Chapter 62

62

Martina sent a hasty text to McKeown once Diana and her grandson arrived home.

‘You were gone a long time. Where—' She clamped her mouth shut as Diana threw her a look that said, If you utter one more word I'll thump you .

When she'd hung up the coats and folded the buggy into the corner, Diana switched on the television for the boy and began rifling through the cabinet drawers.

‘Can I help?' Martina offered.

‘No, it's fine.' Diana pulled open the next drawer.

Martina settled on the arm of the chair where Aaron was sitting with his legs under him, remote in hand. ‘What are you looking for, Diana?'

‘My daughter is dead and you lounge around here, good for nothing but making tea. I'm fed up with it. I don't need you here. I'd like you to leave.'

Stunned, Martina stood. ‘If that's what you want, but first I think you need to sit down, relax a little and have a cup of tea. I'll switch on the kettle.'

Rising to her feet, Diana took a step towards her. ‘If you make another cup of tea in this house, I will throw it at you. I don't need tea. I don't need you. All I need is my daughter back home, and Aaron needs his mother. Please, just leave us in peace.' Tears glistened in her eyes as she turned back to the cabinet.

Martina supposed she'd have to leave, but she was loath to do so as the woman was in an obviously distressed state. ‘Okay, but do you mind if I have a cuppa myself first?'

‘I don't care what you do once you leave me alone.'

‘You all right there, Aaron?' Martina turned to the child. ‘Would you like a juice box?'

‘Leave him alone,' his grandmother snapped. ‘I can look after him.'

Martina glared at the older woman's back. Surely she couldn't get any angrier if she posed McKeown's question.

‘There is one thing I'd like to ask you.'

Diana threw her hands in the air and kicked the drawer closed. ‘If it means you'll leave me alone, then go ahead. Ask away.' She folded her arms, but unfolded them just as quickly, as if the action had unbalanced her. She leaned against the cabinet.

‘My colleague Detective McKeown called while you were out. Something came up in the course of the investigation into John Morgan's murder, and we need to know if you can confirm whether there was a connection to Laura.'

‘What do you mean? What sort of connection?'

Martina took a breath to keep her annoyance at bay. ‘Was Laura ever in Cuan rehab?'

‘Rehab? Whatever for?'

‘I don't know. Alcohol? Drugs?'

‘Are you trying to tarnish my daughter's reputation now? Is that your game. Victim-blaming.'

‘God, no, not at all.' Shit, she was doing this all wrong. ‘We just need to know if Laura was ever in rehab. That's all.'

‘Didn't sound like it to me. What are you playing at?'

‘Nothing. It was a straightforward question.'

‘No it wasn't. It was couched in blame and shame. My Laura had nothing to be ashamed of.' Diana's eyes travelled to Aaron, and Martina found herself feeling sorry for the boy but also angry at what she assumed were diversion tactics by his grandmother.

‘All I wanted was a simple yes or no. We are trying to rule in or out potential links between the victims.'

‘You're persistent.' Diana hesitated before continuing. ‘I was not Laura's keeper.' She pushed herself away from the cabinet. ‘Can you just leave me in peace now?'

‘Sure, okay. But I'd say Detective McKeown will return to talk to you.'

‘So be it.'

As Diana resumed ransacking the drawers, Martina ruffled Aaron's hair and left the room. She fetched her coat. Once outside, she stood for a few moments breathing in the fresh air and expelling the feeling that had caught up inside her. Diana Nolan was definitely hiding something.

Hearing the front door close softly behind the departing guard, Diana sank to her knees on the carpet.

‘Are you okay, Nana?'

‘Just taking a break, sweetie.' She rested her head against the cabinet and exhaled a long, exasperated breath. She shouldn't have been so rude to Garda Brennan. After all, the woman was just doing her job, trying to get answers. Diana wanted answers too. But she didn't want her private life uprooted, laid bare for the world to see. There were too many undesirable aspects of her past that should remain buried.

She knew she should have expected this level of scrutiny with Laura's murder. But she'd had years of comfort lulling her into the proverbial false sense of security. She could not take any further risks. Her priority was to protect what was left of her family. She had to act. Now.

Sitting on the floor, phone in hand, she googled how to obtain a child's passport. She'd find her own eventually, but first things first, she had to get Aaron one.

Tears started to gush from her eyes as she read the details. It was impossible. She was not Aaron's legal guardian. There would be a minefield of legalities to overcome. Affidavits and the like.

She dried her tears to the sound of the Mr Bean cartoon on the television. If they couldn't escape abroad, they'd have to either sit it out here or else flee somewhere locally until it was safe to return. Paranoid or not, she felt she had to leave Ragmullin.