Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller

by Fran McDonnell

  “Right,” Alanna said dryly. “And, speaking of danger, we spoke to Nicky. She knows Colette, she knows her work and respects her advice. She’s going to be extra careful.”

  “Going back to what you were saying, Isobel, I know what you mean,” said Eoin. “I didn’t get a strong negative feeling about Mark Brady either. What about you, Alanna?”

  “Me? I follow the evidence. We have a connection between Michelle, Catriona and Nicky too, their children all played for that team. Isobel is confirming that the other rape victims were all associated with children on the basketball team. We need to pursue that line of enquiry and see what we can turn up.”

  “But I don’t want to betray the women,” Isobel said anxiously.

  “I understand but we may end up talking to all of the mothers of team members,” said Eoin.

  “Maybe,” said Alanna, “but it’s more likely that we would be looking at Mark and other people who are involved with the team.”

  There was a silence of disturbed emotions and thoughts.

  “Gregory is going to have a field day with this,” Alanna said.

  Eoin nodded.

  “I’m going to tell the Super before the meeting.” Alanna looked at Eoin. “See what he wants to do about the confidential informants.”

  “In that case, I think everything is going to come out and, Isobel, you could be under intense pressure to reveal who the women are,” Eoin said.

  “No,” said Isobel. “You know that the Rape Crisis Centre deals with rape victims who never make official complaints. You know lots of women find the system another violation, dealing with officers, dealing with solicitors, judges. Look at the case of that girl in Cork who was criticised for wearing certain underwear and how women, not just in Ireland, came out in their underwear to say that underwear is not consent. There is something wrong with the system, everyone knows it, and still it remains. I’m not saying who these women are. In fact, only that I want The Shadow stopped I regret saying anything.”

  “I’m just warning you to be ready for pressure,” Eoin said. “The connection through their children’s sport would have come out eventually.”

  “Maybe.” Alanna stood up. “I’m going to tell the Super and see what he says.”

  Eoin and Isobel stood too.

  “Keep Gregory busy until the Super and I arrive,” Alanna said.

  Eoin grimaced. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Alanna hurried away.

  Eoin and Isobel walked at a more leisurely pace towards Henry Street.

  “What is this thing with Gregory Hayes?” Isobel asked.

  “It’s complicated. You’ll see for yourself soon. You make up your own mind.”

  They walked the rest of the way in silence, thinking about the meeting ahead.

  In the station Eoin led Isobel upstairs to a larger conference room.

  “I’ll have to leave you here, temporarily. I need to go and get some photographs and some paperwork for the meeting. I won’t be long.”

  Chapter 29

  Isobel wandered over to the window. The view was from the back of the Garda Station, overlooking the Shannon. The mighty river seemed to be flowing at full force. Isobel felt as if she was also being swept along by a powerful current in this case. From finding the body on Tuesday morning, talking to Emer, then Sarah, seeing similarities and with each step as she uncovered new information compelled to keep moving forward, getting more and more involved. Until here she was at a Garda meeting. She took a few deep breaths. Eoin’s warning about the meeting and the possible pressure she would be under rang in her ears. She tried to dispel the knot of anxiety in her stomach.

  “Are you one of the new detectives?”

  Isobel started at the sound of the voice and swung round. Before her was a tall slim man with unruly brown hair and blue eyes.

  He held out his hand. “Doctor Gregory Hayes. I’m the criminal psychologist.”

  Isobel extended hers. “Isobel McKenzie. I’m not –”

  Hayes grasped her hand very firmly. “I think we have a serial offender here.”

  Eoin pushed open the door and entered. “Oh, I see you’ve met Isobel, our consultant psychotherapist.”

  Hayes pulled back his hand. “You’re the psychotherapist that the Assistant Chief Constable told me about?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Yes, he said that the Superintendent had insisted that you be part of the team. Well, now that I’m here I doubt there’ll be a role for you.”

  Eoin said, “That’s not your decision.”

  Hayes smiled at him. “Oh, Inspector Ryan, once again championing the cause of some woman. Let’s hope you’re not as misguided as the last time, listening to the theories of someone who sees monsters everywhere because she hasn’t dealt with her own past.”

  Eoin stepped forward, his lips pressed together, his face white with rage.

  Another voice came from behind him as someone else entered the room. “Inspector Ryan.”

  Eoin took a deep breath and turned round, his face gradually regaining colour. “Assistant Commissioner Bradley, sir.”

  “There’s no problem here, is there, gentlemen?”

  Gregory Hayes said, “No, no problem.”

  Bradley said, “Good. I don’t want my senior investigating officer and the criminal psychologist at loggerheads.”

  “No, sir,” said Eoin.

  Gregory Hayes said, “Oh, I think we can let bygones be bygones and move on.”

  “I hope so. I’m not refereeing a bunch of schoolboys when we have two young women lying in the morgue.”

  “Of course not, sir,” Eoin said.

  Bradley turned to Hayes. “And, this is not about grandstanding for the press – the priority here is finding this man.”

  Hayes inclined his head, his face expressionless. “Which is why I contacted you. Already it seems to me that we have a serial offender here and I think we should treat it as such, sooner rather than later.”

  Eoin grunted.

  “Inspector?” Bradley said.

  “Nothing, sir,” Eoin said.

  The door was pushed open again and Alanna and the Super came in.

  Superintendent Carruthers said, “Hello, Isobel.”

  Bradley moved towards the head of the table. “Shall we sit down?”

  Gregory Hayes sat down at Bradley’s right hand. The Super sat at the opposite end of the table with Eoin and Alanna on either side of him and Isobel next to Alanna.

  “What do we know?” Bradley asked.

  Eoin pulled out the photographs and laid them on the table. “We have two women raped and strangled in the last week, one along the river at Corbally, the other along the walkway from the university into the city. Both women were in their thirties, both liked to walk and both had sons who played for the city basketball team.”

  “The basketball team is one connection,” Hayes said, “but there may be more.”

  The Super said, “We also have a number of anonymous reports from women of being raped and strangled by a man, spanning the last eighteen months.”

  “What?” Hayes said. “I didn’t know about this!”

  “How many anonymous reports?” Bradley said.

  “Four rapes with strangulation in sixteen months.”

  “And two rapes with murder,” Bradley said.

  The Super gestured to Alanna to continue. Gregory Hayes took a notebook and pen from his pocket and started taking notes.

  Alanna said, “In both of the rape/murder cases there was no forensic evidence, no semen, no hair, no skin samples. The forensic team have suggested that the man wore a protective suit, used a condom and placed a tarpaulin on the ground to lay the victims on during the attack. None of these details have been released to the public and yet all four anonymous women describe these details.”

  Eoin placed some pages on the table. “We also have a report of an attempted assault from eighteen months ago where the perpetrator wore a black bodysuit.” />
  Eoin placed a photograph on the table. Gregory Hayes reached for it but Bradley got there first. He studied the picture and then handed it to Gregory.

  Hayes looked up. “A bondage suit?”

  “All four victims have said that this is like the suit that their attacker wore,” Eoin said.

  “How have you shown it to them, if they are anonymous?” Hayes said.

  No one answered. He looked around the table until he came to Isobel. “You found all of these women?”

  Before Isobel could respond, the Super said, “Michelle Cavan didn’t die from strangulation, she died of a heart attack.”

  Hayes swung towards him. “Are you suggesting that he didn’t mean to kill her?”

  The Super nodded. “Exactly.”

  “So, Catriona was an intentional strangulation, an escalation,” Hayes said.

  “It would appear so.”

  “He probably won’t stop now. He will attack and kill more women.”

  “We know,” Eoin said.

  Hayes turned to the Assistant Commissioner. “So the warnings need to be stronger.”

  “You’re right.”

  Hayes turned to Isobel. “How long have you known about this pattern?”

  Eoin said, “Excuse me, Mr. Hayes –”

  “Doctor Hayes.”

  Eoin looked at him. “We wouldn’t know anything about these rapes if it wasn’t for Isobel. We would have been treating this as a single rape and murder until today and we certainly wouldn’t know that the attack eighteen months ago was related. When that attack failed it seems the perpetrator changed his MO. Only that Michelle Cavan died and Isobel found these other women we would be none the wiser.”

  Gregory Hayes said, “I need to interview the women to see if they can tell me more about this man.” He looked at Isobel. “You’ll have to get them to meet me.”

  Isobel leant back in her chair. “No.”

  Gregory looked at her. “What?”

  Isobel sat forward and put her hands on the table. “No.”

  “That is obstruction of justice. You can’t withhold vital information from the Garda. I need this information. I need to develop a profile of this man.” He looked around the table.

  The Super said, “These women are confidential informants. They’ve been threatened by their attacker, he has threatened their families hence none of them reported their rape. They don’t have to do anything. We’re lucky that they said as much as they did.”

  Gregory looked at Bradley. “Is that it?”

  “Yes. What a disaster.”

  Alanna said, “Yes, it’s a disaster, that women have been attacked and threatened and that they didn’t feel safe enough to report what happened to them. The Shadow is ruthless and clever, very, very clever.”

  “The Shadow?” Hayes said.

  “That’s what we call him,” Alanna said. “If Isobel hadn’t shone some light on the situation, we wouldn’t know what we were dealing with.”

  Hayes turned to Isobel, his face pinched. “How did you get involved?”

  “Ms. McKenzie found Michelle Cavan,” Bradley said.

  Hayes looked at her. “Oh and you’ve been involved in the case ever since?”

  “What point are you trying to make here?” Eoin said.

  “That there are people who have an unhealthy interest in crime and after all we only have your say-so that these women experienced what they did. For all we know you could have recorded these stories with actresses or you could have fed them information and be manipulating this whole investigation.”

  Isobel gasped.

  “How dare you!” Eoin snapped.

  “That is exactly the sort of twisted thinking that you accused Colette of,” Alanna said.

  The Super said, his voice low and ice cold, “That’s enough, Doctor Hayes.”

  Isobel stood up from the table.

  Alanna made to rise but Isobel shook her head.

  Isobel looked at Gregory Hayes. “I’m involved in this case because I shared information that I had discovered with the Gardaí, as any citizen would. You should surely understand confidentiality. I resent your accusations and consider your proprietorial attitude smallminded. I hope that your ego doesn’t get in the way of your doing your job.”

  Before anyone could say another word, Isobel turned on her heel and left the room. As she closed the door she could hear a cacophony of voices.

  Isobel didn’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone. She hurried along the corridors and down the stairs. As she passed through the reception area the desk sergeant called out, “Goodnight, Isobel!” But her anger was so intense that she marched on with only a wave.

  Once outside she paused – her car was still at the university.

  She walked to Cecil Street and got a taxi. As the car navigated its way around the one-way system that regulated Limerick city centre, she heard sirens. Right now, she wanted to get home and ring Patricia to rant about what had just happened.

  Traffic was still reasonably busy as the car made its way out to Castletroy. By the time she arrived at her car she could see Eoin standing there. She sighed.

  She paid the taxi and climbed out.

  Eoin waited for her to walk towards her car. She felt too weary to hear anymore.

  “That was a great parting shot,” he said.

  Isobel frowned in surprise.

  Eoin grinned. “Even the Assistant Commissioner, who is usually Hayes’ biggest fan, reprimanded him. It was great.”

  In spite of herself, Isobel smiled.

  “I didn’t catch the end of the meeting because I left to catch up with you but Alanna recorded it. She says it’s worth listening to, to hear Hayes backtracking.”

  “Alanna recorded it?”

  “She recorded the whole meeting.”

  “Why?”

  Eoin threw his eyes up. “It’s a long story but suffice it to say that Hayes has caused problems for another consultant we had and, well, Alanna and I are wary of him.”

  “Colette?”

  “Yes, Colette.”

  Isobel moved towards her car door and Eoin shifted out of the way.

  “I didn’t think that he would attack you like that. I thought that the thing with Colette was professional jealousy although she said it was personal. I know he likes the limelight but I really didn’t think that he would go after you, Isobel. I’m sorry. You’ve done nothing but help us and I’m sorry that you were treated like that.”

  Isobel nodded. “It has been a long day. I’m tired and I want to go home and rest.”

  “Alanna and I are having another meeting with Colette. We’re going to check into Mark Brady tomorrow. We’ll probably re-interview him. We’d like you to be a part of that as you know so much about the other women who were attacked.”

  Isobel smiled weakly. “Let me know the time of the interview and I’ll be there.”

  “Good. Don’t let that gobshite discourage you. We need to crack this case and you’ve been invaluable.”

  Isobel could feel her heart lifting a little. “Thanks, Eoin. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  Chapter 30

  Patricia said, “Oh my God, what a day!”

  Isobel was curled up an hour later on her couch with a cup of tea. “Yeah.”

  “I can’t believe the arrogance of that profiler. I wish I’d been there.” There was a pause. “Do you think that Eoin and Colette are an item?”

  “I don’t think so … good friends certainly.”

  “I like him and I thought he might be a nice guy for you to date.”

  “I’ve no notion of dating anyone after all that I’ve been through and may still have to face.”

  “Sorry. I know. But you are a young woman and attractive and I would like you to –”

  Isobel cut her off. “I know, I know, meet someone like you met Peter and be as happy as you are.”

  Patricia laughed. “Well, something like that only quicker. Peter and I were work colleagues for five years b
efore we got together. I thought there might be something between you and Eoin.”

  Isobel was thankful that they were on the phone and that Patricia couldn’t see her blush. “Well, if the photograph on Colette’s desk is anything to go by they’re very close. And anyway, I really liked her. You would too. She knows her stuff. Whatever happened between her and Gregory Hayes has left a residue of lots of bad feeling.”

  “It sounds intriguing.”

  Isobel could feel herself relaxing a bit. There was nothing like chatting things through with a friend to put everything in perspective. “All of that is the least of my worries. I can’t believe that The Shadow raped and killed another woman.”

  “I know. I only left this morning and all of that has happened. And you found a lead. But Isobel, of all the things you’ve told me the one that bothers me the most is that Colette warned The Shadow may target women involved in the investigation. I hope Alanna is being careful and you need to be too.”

  “No one knows that I’m involved.”

  “Thank God. I looked up self-defence courses here and near you. I found a good one in Cork.”

  “In Cork?”

  “Well, it helped Nicky when The Shadow attacked her so I thought it would be a safe thing for both of us to do if we’re going to be involved in investigations. I’m starting a class here next week.”

  “You’ll be like a private investigator Ninja then.”

  “You might laugh, Isobel, but to be honest The Shadow has spooked me a bit. I know that Cork is too far away to go every week but the man I spoke to said they do private coaching and I thought that was best with your arm and that.”

  “Patricia …”

  “No, listen, Isobel. I’m worried. I was worried before Colette said what she did. I’ve talked to Peter. We’re both worried. I know you’ve a lot on but I want you to go and have some training with this man. He says he can cover a fair bit of ground with you.”

  Isobel frowned. “But I’m not going to walk alone in either of those places. Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”