Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller

by Fran McDonnell

  “I know people don’t always agree with me but, trust me, I was right then and I’m right now.”

  “Let’s not go over that old case,” Alanna said. “Eoin, we need to go. Are we going to call on this physio, Mark Brady?”

  Eoin said, “Yes, right now. I’ve got the address of his clinic.”

  Chapter 26

  Mark Brady’s clinic was across the city near University Hospital Limerick, or the Regional, as it was locally known. There was some parking in front of the building.

  Eoin said, “Let’s sound this guy out gently without giving too much away. You’ve said yourself, Isobel, that only some of the women were clients of his.”

  There was a buzzer on the wall outside. Eoin rang it.

  After a few moments a pleasant voice came over the intercom, “Yes, can I help you?”

  Alanna said, “Mr. Brady, Mark Brady?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Detective Sergeant Alanna Finnegan. I need to have a few words with you.”

  “I’m with a client right now and I can’t really leave her.”

  “That’s OK, sir. We would be happy to wait.”

  “I’ll buzz you in. Take a seat in the waiting room and I’ll be with you in about ten minutes.”

  There was a buzzing sound as the door released. The waiting room was small with a bathroom off it and another door no doubt leading to the treatment area. There were four chairs and a coffee table with a scattering of magazines, mostly about running and cycling.

  Isobel walked around looking at the posters on the wall. There were pictures of stretching exercises, others showing the musculature of the body. Certainly it all seemed very professional. There were photographs of a man running and cycling and the same man standing in front of the clinic. There were photos of him with the Limerick Senior football team, with younger children and photos with a basketball team. Obviously Mark Brady took his sport very seriously. Isobel sat down.

  There was the murmur of voices from behind the door and then it opened. A woman came out.

  “Thank you, Mark. I’m sure that I’ll be back to my walking in no time.” She smiled back at Mark, included the others in her happiness and left.

  Mark Brady stood in front of them. His blond hair was short and tidy above blue eyes. He was six foot with broad shoulders and an athletic build dressed in a white tunic and black trousers – very professional.

  “Sergeant Finnegan?”

  Alanna stood. “Mr. Brady. Could we have a few words?”

  “Certainly. Come in.” He waved them into the treatment room. There were more photos of sporting teams and a noticeboard with a number of thank-you cards pinned to it.

  Mark smiled at them easily, his body language open. “What is this about?”

  “Are you a runner, Mr. Brady?” Alanna said.

  He shrugged. “Yes, I run to keep fit.”

  “Can you tell me where you would go to run and do your training?”

  Mark frowned. “Well, I’m a member of a gym.”

  Alanna smiled. “You run inside on a treadmill, then?”

  “Well no, not all the time.”

  “And when you run outside, where is it?”

  Mark moistened his lips. “I run at the university.”

  Eoin said, “On the path going towards town?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you run along the river in Corbally?”

  “Yes, the path from the university joins the one in Corbally. Depending on how far I’m running I can be on both.” He spread his hands. “I told your officers this when they interviewed me the other day. They stopped me when I was out running. It was after that woman was attacked and murdered.”

  “Did you know Michelle Cavan?” Eoin asked.

  “No. I didn’t.”

  “She never came to you as a client?”

  “No, she didn’t. Why are you asking me this?”

  Alanna smiled. “We’re following up with all the walkers and runners in the area. Another body was found today on the university path.”

  “What?”

  “I thought you might have heard it on the news,” Alanna said.

  “I’ve been working. I haven’t heard the news. Is it the same man?”

  “We suspect it is,” Eoin said. “So we’re checking with anyone who uses both parts of the path.”

  “Of course. Well, I haven’t seen anything suspicious, no one loitering that I observed anyway.”

  “This new victim was called Catriona Molloy. Do you recognise the name?”

  “No.”

  Eoin pulled out his phone. “I have a picture here.” He wiped the phone with a tissue. “That should be OK now.”

  Mark looked uncomfortable.

  Eoin proffered his phone. “If you could just take a look for me, sir.”

  Reluctantly Mark took the phone. “She doesn’t seem familiar.”

  “If you swipe there’s a second photo there.”

  Mark complied. “I don’t recognise her. She wasn’t a client, I don’t think. I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can help you with.”

  Isobel said, “I see that you work with children.”

  Mark’s face softened. “Yes. I love helping them be interested in sport and fitness.”

  “What sports do you help kids with?”

  “Oh, football, basketball and sometimes athletics.”

  “Have your teams been successful?”

  Mark held up his hand and waved it from side to side. “It’s not all about the winning. They usually get their photo in the Limerick Leader or the Limerick Post whatever happens and they’re happy. It’s fun. Of course some of them are really good and will be on the future senior team.”

  Eoin looked at the others. “I don’t think there’s anything else, is there?”

  Alanna shook her head.

  “Could I have one of your business cards, please?” Isobel asked.

  Mark laughed. “Of course.” He lifted a card from a holder on the desk and handed it to her.

  “Thank you.” She held the card by the edges. There was an image of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man on it. “I like the picture you have on it.”

  Mark smiled. “Me too.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Eoin said.

  Alana led the way out.

  Outside, Eoin opened the car and they all sat in. Mark stood at the door watching them. When he realised that they were all looking at him, he closed the door of his premises.

  Alanna pulled out two evidence bags. Isobel slipped the card into one and Eoin placed the phone into the other.

  “You’ll have to come and give us your prints so we can eliminate them, Isobel,” he said.

  “I know.”

  “If Mark has sweaty hands maybe the phone will have some of his DNA on it,” he said.

  “That’s a bit of a long shot,” Alanna said.

  Eoin shrugged.

  “And I was sure he would know what you were doing wiping the phone. Could you not have been a bit more subtle?”

  “It was a split-second decision and he still took the phone.”

  Alanna shook her head.

  “With just the two sets of prints we should be clear about which ones are his,” Isobel said. “And if there’s DNA, however clumsily obtained, we’ll know if it matches Nicky’s attacker.”

  Alanna nodded. “We need as much information as possible before we meet with Gregory Hayes tonight.”

  “Yes,” Eoin said. “And I don’t want him stealing all the credit for the work we, and you, Isobel and Patricia, have done. He did that before to Colette and it’s not happening again.”

  “Why did you ask all the questions about the kids’ teams, Isobel?” Alanna said,

  “Yeah, I was wondering if you were going to get his life story,” Eoin said,

  Isobel blushed. “Just covering all the bases.”

  They arrived at Henry Street and, as they climbed out of the car Isobel glanced at her watch. It was two o’clock.

>   “There’s something I need to do,” she said.

  Alanna nodded. “We need to sort out a few things too.” She shook the evidence bags.

  “And we need to tell Nicky what Colette said,” Eoin added.

  “Right.”

  “Let’s meet in Revital for a coffee at five o’clock,” Eoin suggested. “Is that enough time for you, Isobel, to do what you have to do?”

  “Yes, yes. See you then.”

  Chapter 27

  Isobel hurried up from Henry Street towards the Spar on Glentworth Street. She ordered a sandwich and got a cup of tea. She sat at a table outside under the canopy and, as she hastily consumed her sandwich, she googled the addresses of the local papers. The Limerick Leader was just round the corner on O’Connell Street.

  She finished her lunch and, as she walked down the street towards the office, she hastily compiled a story.

  In the Limerick Leader office there were two receptionists behind a counter, the younger dressed in Goth style.

  “Hi. I’m looking for a photograph of a team taken earlier this year and the photo of the same team from last year. We’re doing a night for all of the proud parents and I want to show off the photograph.”

  “What date was the photo in the paper?” the young Goth asked.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot my notes so I’m not one-hundred-per-cent sure. It was a Limerick under-twelve team.”

  The Goth looked at the older woman, her eyebrows raised.

  “It was probably in that spread they did of local teams.” The older lady moved to the computer and tapped at the keys. “Is this it?”

  She swung the laptop around. There was a photograph of kids.

  Isobel bit her lip. “Do you have it with the names of all the team?”

  The older woman turned the laptop back and did some more typing.

  Isobel looked at the picture with the names underneath and scanned through them. None of them were familiar.

  “Were there other teams?”

  “Yes, there were a few pages of them.”

  “Perhaps I could look at all of them.”

  “Do you not know what team it was?” the lady asked a bit sharply.

  Isobel blushed. “Oh sorry. All of the women have kids of different ages and therefore they are on different teams and some of the children do more than one sport.”

  The receptionist rolled her eyes.

  She made an adjustment and pictures of more teams appeared with names listed underneath. Isobel looked through them all. In a photograph of the under-twelve basketball team, in the back row was Bernard Cavan and beside him, Emer’s nephew, Barry. Isobel hastily scanned the other names. There was no Carr but then Brenda had been married so her kids most likely have their father’s name.

  Isobel smiled. “This is it. Could I have a copy of this with the names underneath? Oh, and a photo of the same team for the year before?”

  “It will just take me a moment to find last year’s.” She pressed more keys. “Here we go”

  Isobel looked at the second photo. There she saw a boy with Nicky’s surname and also a boy with the same surname as Kate.

  “Yes, these are what I need.”

  “It will be a few moments while I print them off.”

  “I have to make a quick call. I’ll just be in the hallway.”

  The woman nodded.

  Isobel stepped into the hallway.

  “Hello, Fiona.”

  “Hi, Isobel. Have you had any luck with your notice?”

  “Yes, actually, I’ve had one response already – thank you for that.”

  “I saw on the internet that another woman’s body has been found. Is it the same man?”

  “It seems very likely that it is. Fiona, listen, you have to trust me. I need to know what Brenda’s married name is.”

  “Why do you need that?”

  “I haven’t time to explain now. You need to trust me.”

  “But you said that she could talk to you anonymously.”

  “I’m not going to break her anonymity, I promise you, but this is really important.”

  “OK, it’s Collins.”

  Isobel couldn’t remember all of the names listed under the photos. “Thanks, Fiona. I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll explain then.”

  “OK.”

  Isobel went back inside. She thanked the receptionist for her help and took her captioned photographs. In the hall she hastily went through last year’s picture of the basketball team looking for the name Collins, and there it was in the front row.

  Isobel felt her mouth dropping open. Was it possible? Could all of the women either have a child or be related to a child who played for the basketball team this year or the year before? She looked through her phone again and found Emer’s number.

  “Hi, Emer.”

  “Hi, Isobel. That’s awful about that woman they found today.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Are you making any progress towards catching this man?”

  “I think we are but –”

  “You can’t say anything?”

  “No, I can’t. And, Emer, I need to ask you something.”

  “OK.”

  “Did you ever take your nephew to basketball practice?”

  “Basketball training? Why do you want to know that?”

  “I’m just checking out some things. It may have nothing to do with anything. Please, can you just tell me if you ever took him to basketball practice?”

  “I did a few times. Yvonne wasn’t well and her husband works that day so for a couple of Saturdays I took him to his practice. I just dropped him off and then came back in an hour and collected him. There was nothing to it. I never spoke to anyone.”

  “I see. Where was the practice?”

  “It was out at the university. But the kids came from all over the city because there aren’t so many kids playing basketball, not like Gaelic or football. It’s the Limerick team. A big honour. Barry was well chuffed to be chosen and we’re all proud of him. He’s actually very good. He won’t be playing for the team next year. He’ll be too old for the under-twelves. And at his age he’s kind of between teams but maybe the following year. He loves his sport.” She paused. “What’s this about? Is the man connected with the basketball?”

  “No, no, I’m just checking something out. I can’t explain now but I’ll be in touch.” Now she had alarmed her. “In the meantime, don’t mention anything about the basketball to anyone, OK?”

  “OK, but –”

  “Are you doing alright?”

  “Not too bad, considering. This new murder has made me nervous but I’m managing and Ben and I are in a better place.”

  “I’m glad. I’ll see you soon. Tell your mum hello from me.”

  “OK. But this basketball thing –”

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  Isobel could feel her energy buzzing. This might be a connection between all of the women, this team. She found a place to sit in the George Hotel while she looked through the notes she and Patricia had made. Her phone rang.

  Alanna said, “Are you running late?”

  Isobel swallowed over a dry throat. “Yes, I’m nearly there, five minutes.”

  She went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. Her hair which had been wavy had grown back in tight curls. She did her best to tame them. She looked into her brown eyes in the mirror. Such a lot had happened today. Finding the photos that showed a possible connection between the victims was great, but her heart was heavy. Having met Mark Brady, she found it hard to believe that he was the rapist. Maybe he had fooled her, but something didn’t feel right. What could she do? But finding the photos, that was a new lead. She had to tell Eoin and Alanna about this link.

  Chapter 28

  A waitress met Isobel at the door of Revital. Alanna raised her hand and Isobel acknowledged her. She ordered an oat-milk cappuccino and made her way over to where Alanna and Eoin were sitting.

  Alanna said, “The DNA is
back from Nicky’s top. He’s not in the system.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, it was too much to hope that it would be that easy.”

  “We’ve sent off Mark’s samples,” Eoin said. “Maybe by this time tomorrow we might have a match to Nicky’s attacker.”

  Isobel didn’t think so. “I’ve found something else.”

  “Another woman?” Eoin said.

  “No, a connection between all of the women.”

  Eoin’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

  “Are you serious?” Alanna leant forward, “Come on then, tell us, what is it?”

  “All of the women had a son or nephew who played for the Limerick under-twelve basketball team.”

  She handed over the photographs.

  Alanna took one and Eoin the other.

  Alanna said, “I see the names Molloy and Cavan here.”

  “Yes, and the woman who had no children, she has a nephew who played on the team and she brought him to practice a couple of times when her sister was sick.”

  “I see Nicky’s surname here,” Eoin said.

  “And the woman who was attacked in March of that year, her son is on the team,” Isobel said.

  “What made you think of this?” Alanna asked.

  “It was the photographs in Mark Brady’s office of the teams of under-twelves and also that the rapist had threatened children that the women knew.”

  “That’s what your meeting was,” Eoin said. “I thought it was …”

  Isobel looked at him.

  He looked away.

  “I thought it worth checking out,” Isobel said.

  Alanna laughed. “So after we teased you about asking all of those questions about the teams you didn’t want to look silly so you checked it out without telling us about your hunch!”

  Isobel blushed. “Something like that.”

  Alanna and Eoin grinned at her.

  “You’ll have to toughen up to work with the gardaí,” Alanna said. “It’s a tough world and believe me tonight’s meeting is going to be hard going.”

  Eoin tapped the photographs on the table. “This is more evidence that Mark Brady might be our man.”

  Isobel took a deep breath. “I know I found this but I’m not one-hundred-per-cent convinced that Mark Brady is The Shadow. I know he may have fooled me, but it doesn’t feel right. And I can’t give you the other women’s names. I can say that the lead is good but I can’t betray them and maybe put them in danger.”