Chapter 80

80

Lottie munched the chicken fillet roll. Boyd had run into Millie's garage for it and then parked on double yellow lines outside the town park. He got that she needed space to think, away from the station. Her waistline wouldn't thank him, though.

‘Explain to me what's going on, Boyd.'

‘You've a dribble of mayonnaise on your chin.'

She wiped it with the paper napkin. ‘Happy now?'

He smiled, and the hazel flecks in his eyes twinkled. She couldn't help grinning. Boyd had a way of alleviating her tension with just a smile. She felt an urge to dump her sandwich and kiss him, but her rumbling stomach objected, plus it would be unprofessional.

‘Irene Dunbar isn't at the office or at home, nor answering her phone, so where is she? And where have Gordon Collins and Diana Nolan disappeared to?' she asked. ‘Have they all gone to ground and is it a coincidence?'

He leaned back in his seat and stared out the windscreen. ‘Let's talk it through. What have they in common?'

‘Pine Gove? Or Cuan?'

‘My money is on Cuan and the financial donor event last year.'

‘I agree. The day Aneta broke down, they were all there. Plus Laura, John and Shannon.' She swallowed a bite of chicken and savoured it. ‘We have to up our public appeals for information on Shannon's whereabouts.'

‘I'll check if there are any updates when we get back.' He pointed to the end of the roll she'd put into the wrapper and reached over. ‘If you're not finishing that…'

‘Would you take my grave as quick? Go on, I'm stuffed now.'

As he ate the remains of her food, she focused on the murders. ‘We need to examine what the motive might be. However warped it is, three young people have been killed. There's still a question mark over whether John Morgan was murdered by the same person, but we can connect all three, plus Shannon, to Cuan. But that was a year ago, so what has triggered their deaths now?'

‘Concentrate on Aneta for a moment. She seems to have disappeared shortly after that day at Cuan. Irene Dunbar should be able to shed light on the reasons behind that, wherever she is. I believe it's significant.'

‘Okay,' Lottie said, ‘but why wait a year to kill her, dump her body and kill Laura and John? And possibly abduct Shannon.'

‘Laura's murder could have been unintended. Maybe she was being abducted and something spooked her abductor and he killed her. Then he took Shannon.'

‘If we agree the same person is the killer, surely it has to have something to do with Aneta. It's obvious she was held somewhere, abused and starved. Why?'

Boyd said, ‘Back to your first question. Why kill her now? And what caused this murder spree to start?'

‘Maybe we need to look at the Pine Grove connection too,' Lottie said emphatically. ‘We found the brochure among Aneta's possessions. Laura was interested in buying a property there but was turned down for a mortgage. John Morgan worked for Collins and his mother had bought a house there. I can't figure it out…'

‘And how does Shannon fit in? Is she the anomaly or the final link? I think one or all three, Collins, Dunbar and Diana Nolan, may provide the answer.'

‘We should issue an alert for them,' she said.

‘Might be difficult.'

‘Yes, since they haven't done anything wrong that we know of. But they are persons of interest and we need to talk to them,' she insisted.

‘See what the super says.'

‘I will.' But she didn't hold out much hope for a positive response. ‘I was wondering why Diana didn't answer Martina when she showed her Aneta's photo. She may have seen her at Cuan.'

‘We can ask her when we locate her,' Boyd said. ‘And don't forget Greg Plunkett and his escort business in all this.'

‘I'm not forgetting him. I don't think he's a killer, though I have to accept that Shannon and Laura were registered with his agency. I know we can't find Aneta on the database, but he or his PA could have purged the records before we came asking the real awkward questions.'

‘Plunkett is worth another look then.'

‘Yes, but Boyd, I still can't put my finger on a motive for all this sorrow and death.'

‘It will come. Once we turn over every stone.'

‘That reminds me, we need to review whatever door-to-door reports we have from around the area where Aneta's body was found.'

‘Why dump her out there in the arsehole of nowhere?'

‘So that she wouldn't be found easily?'

‘Exactly.'

‘Maybe the killer slipped up,' Lottie said, with more hope than conviction.