“No, Isobel, I don’t. He’s free tomorrow. I tried to ring you earlier.”
“I saw that.”
“I was going to talk to you about it but since I couldn’t get you I had to make a decision and I booked you to go tomorrow. He’ll see you at eleven o’clock and work with you until three. He’s going to go through as much as he can about self-defence with you.”
“You want me to go to Cork tomorrow?”
“Please, Isobel. We would feel that you were safer then. And I’ll come back at the weekend to go to the hospital with you on Monday.”
“That’s too much.”
“I’m coming.”
“I don’t know if I want to drive to Cork tomorrow.”
“Please go. I’m really worried. You live on your own. You walk a lot. Please. It’s already booked.”
“OK, OK. I’ll do it. Mostly to shut you up but I suppose it can’t do any harm to be able to defend myself.”
“Exactly. Let me give you the address. I checked the drive time and it’s less than two hours. Anyway, you might need these skills to beat up Gregory Hayes if he gives you any more jip.”
“That’s Doctor Hayes to you. And that’s a thought, I can always imagine that it’s him I’m dealing with when I’m learning.”
“Exactly. It’ll help you get rid of all of that anger.”
Not long after they said goodnight. Isobel listened to some music to help her relax and before long went to bed.
Chapter 31
Wednesday 26th June
When Isobel got up at eight o’clock she was almost glad to be going to the self-defence session.
The phone rang. It was Alanna.
“Hi Isobel, could you confirm the dates of all of the attacks so that we can start to research Mark Brady’s alibis? I know you’re not convinced it’s him but there is a connection so we need to talk to him. We’re going to check him out, check where he was for those dates and then bring him in for interview later. We’d like you to be here to observe the interview. There may be something from your conversations with the women that’s important. We were thinking around two o’clock.”
“Sorry, Alanna. I’ve to go to Cork today but I’ll be back at around five.”
Alanna spoke to someone over her shoulder. “Eoin says that’s fine. We want to be well prepared for this interview. Can you come to Henry Street straight from Cork?”
“No problem.”
“See you at around five o’clock then.”
***
Isobel entered the sports centre just off the Cork ring road and was met by a grey-haired man who was about five foot ten and solidly built. He exuded a calm and capable air that would be hard to ruffle.
“Isobel?”
“Yes.”
“I’m your instructor, Martin O’Reilly. It was your friend Patricia who made the appointment. Perhaps you could tell me why you’re here?” He laughed and his eyes sparkled. “Apart from the fact that your friend booked it.”
Isobel found herself smiling warmly too. “Honestly, initially I wasn’t keen on coming but now I’m so glad that I’m here.”
Martin led her into an open-plan room with some mats.
“Go on – why specifically are you here?”
“I found a woman’s body in Limerick. It seems there’s a man in Limerick raping and strangling women and I want to be able to defend myself if I have to.”
“Wow. I heard about that on the news. It’s terrible. I can understand that that would make you nervous.” He smiled. “But you’ve come to the right place. I promise that at the end you will be able to do a lot to protect yourself.”
“Good. I should also warn you that I’ve had lymph nodes taken from my left arm and so I need to be careful about not hurting it.”
“No problem. Tell me, have you reason to believe that you particularly are in any danger?”
Isobel looked at him. She wondered if his training in self-defence also included risk assessment, or if he asked everyone this.
“Confidentially?”
“Of course.”
Isobel nodded. “Confidentially, a psychologist who looked at the case suggested that any women associated with the case may be at risk. Obviously, I’m not as involved as the gardaí on the case but … Last year this man attacked a woman but she had been trained in self-defence and she managed to get away and that’s why I’m here.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll help you and we’ll make sure that you know how to protect yourself and your arm.” He smiled.
Isobel could feel relief washing over her.
“Describe what you know about how this man attacks women,” he asked.
“He grabs them from behind with a hand over their mouth and then, still behind them, he puts his hands around their throats and strangles them until they pass out.”
Martin’s eyes gleamed. “OK, let me show you.”
There followed a couple of hours’ work on how to release oneself from both of those holds. Isobel could feel that her stamina was still impaired from her treatment but she soldiered on. After two hours Martin called a break and they went to a café nearby for food. Even over lunch she could feel Martin educating her. In essence he was letting her know that if possible she should avoid a confrontation. The skills she was learning were not only self-defence – he also talked about observing her environment and watching and listening for potential problems so that she could take evasive action.
After lunch Martin said, “Now I’m going to show you how to defend yourself if you find yourself on the ground.”
Isobel could feel her confidence evaporating.
“On the ground?”
Sensing her deflation, Martin said, “Isobel. I want you as prepared as possible. There could be any number of reasons that you find yourself in that position. The important thing is that in every scenario you know what you can do. The fact that when I mentioned lying on the ground you felt weakened suggests that you would be in trouble. All I’m doing is giving you options and belief and skills that you can use should that happen.”
“Sorry, Martin. You’re right. It felt as if … should he get me on the ground I wouldn’t have a chance.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “That I would be …”
“Exactly!” Martin snapped. “I’m going to show you some things that you can do.” He looked at her. “Your reaction tells me that this is a place where you would give up, where you would think that you had no chance and I’m going to make sure you feel different about that.”
“You’re right.”
Martin grinned at her. “Come on.”
Isobel found herself grinning back. There was something about this man that gave her confidence.
Later she mentioned that she often walked with sticks and Martin showed her how to use them to inflict damage on anyone attacking her by driving the point into an attacker’s stomach or groin.
They worked for another hour, at the end of which Martin had Isobel pinned to the floor and she managed to extricate herself. He cheered. Isobel danced around the floor.
“I think that’s enough for today,” Martin said,
Isobel nodded, catching her breath.
“You need to practise to keep your skills up. And don’t leave it too long.”
“I won’t. I feel much more confident now.”
Martin shook his head. “Don’t get overconfident. You’re fired up now, it’s the adrenaline. Pay attention to what is happening around you.”
Isobel nodded. “I know. But I don’t feel so afraid now and that has to be good.”
They said goodbye with Isobel promising to come back for a refresher soon.
Chapter 32
It was a quarter past five when Isobel arrived back in Limerick. She parked her car on Cecil Street and walked down to Henry Street Garda station. Three civilians, a man and two women, were standing in reception.
One of the officers behind the reception desk saw her and said, “Hi, Ms. McKenzie. They’re waiting for you upsta
irs.” He opened a door, letting her through to the restricted area.
As Isobel passed through the door she heard her name called and turned back. The man and one of the women were looking at her. She didn’t recognise them. There was a click and then the door started to close behind her. The man and woman watched her until the door blocked their view.
Isobel started up the stairs and was met by Alanna halfway up. “Come up to Eoin’s office.”
“Hi to you too.”
Alanna didn’t reply. Isobel could feel the tension rippling from her. Obviously something had happened.
Eoin was sitting behind his desk. “Isobel.” He gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk.
Isobel sat. Alanna took the other chair.
“We’ve had a hell of a day,” Eoin said. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
Isobel reached into her bag. Her phone was turned off.
“I was in Cork. I forgot to turn it on after my session. What’s happened?” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Not another woman attacked?”
Alanna reached out and touched her arm. “No. No. But the press got hold of the story and now The Shadow is all over the papers along with Dr Hayes as the saviour who has found a connection to Mark Brady. His office was picketed today. We had to pick him up early for his protection.”
Isobel sat back in her chair. “How did they get his name? Although the basketball was a definite connection between the victims, we weren’t sure about his involvement.”
Eoin glanced at Alanna. “The way it was presented in the paper, he is The Shadow.”
Isobel said, “And is he?”
“We don’t think so,” Eoin said. “We haven’t spoken to him yet but looking on social media at what we can find, it seems that it wasn’t him.”
Alanna nodded. “He was out of the country on holiday for one of the attacks and it looks like he was giving a paper at a conference for another.”
Isobel closed her eyes. “Oh my God, this is terrible. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t given you the connection then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Isobel,” Eoin said. “You had to. This is a multiple murder and rape case. You had to tell us about any connection you had found.”
“Isobel, this isn’t your fault,” Alanna said. “It’s that Gregory Hayes.”
Isobel looked from Alanna to a frowning Eoin. “He’s responsible for this leak?”
“No doubt,” Eoin said.
“He admitted leaking this to the paper?”
Alanna frowned. “No.”
Eoin stood up and paced behind the desk. “Of course not. He maintains that it was a leak from one of our officers. There’s going to be an enquiry, which is all we need on top of the case.”
“This is just like with Colette,” Alanna said. “He managed to discredit her in the media. It was all a load of rubbish but he got away with it and got her job.”
“And we could never prove it was him,” Eoin said.
“But how do you know that he did it?”
“Don’t get me started on that man!” Eoin said.
Isobel put her hand to her forehead and took a deep breath.
“Because of the reporting, some people are convinced that Mark Brady is The Shadow,” said Alanna, “and that he has now been caught while some clients of his, some old girlfriends and even some of the kids he works with are taking to social media to claim his innocence. We’ve had a number of phone calls here too.”
Isobel shook her head. “What a mess! So he could very well be innocent.”
“It’s looking that way,” Eoin said. “We’ll talk to him and check his alibi for all the times.”
“He’s willing to talk to us,” Alanna said. “His solicitor is with him but he wants to help us in any way that he can.”
“Which is something.” Eoin looked at Alanna. “But that’s not all.” He flicked a quick glance at Isobel and then looked away.
Isobel looked towards Alanna, who looked down at her hands.
“You were mentioned too,” Eoin said.
Isobel frowned. “Me?”
Eoin met Isobel’s gaze. “Yes, you. They named you as the woman who found Michelle Cavan and mentioned that you are continuing to be involved with the investigation.”
Isobel went pale. “Oh.”
Eoin rubbed his face with his hands. “Yeah. That was all but Colette is worried that this might put you on The Shadow’s radar, make you a target.”
Isobel bit her lip. “And did the article say anything about the women who have talked to me?”
“No,” Alanna said. “It implied that there may have been more attacks which were not fatal and that there is an escalating pattern. It also highlights that Dr Hayes is an expert on serial offenders.”
“So all in all good publicity for him although he denies having anything to do with it,” Eoin said.
“Typical,” Alanna said.
There was a subdued silence. Isobel could feel knots of anxiety forming in her stomach. Suddenly she felt at sea in a world of politics and professional competition. All of the currents and machinations were taking over from finding the perpetrator of the rapes and murders. Isobel shook her head. She needed to keep her eye on the ball. She rubbed her hands together. Surely they had made progress establishing a connection between all of the victims? They needed to continue to pursue their enquiries.
“What now?” she asked.
“Go and talk to Mark Brady?” Alanna said.
“Yes.” Eoin turned to Isobel. “Obviously we’ll go over his alibis with him. He’s brought his diary and appointment book.”
“We also plan to get a list of all of the people he knows who have anything to do with the basketball team. Can you think of anything else?”
Isobel shook her head.
“I’ll take Isobel to observation and be along in a minute.”
Alanna brought Isobel to the observation room. Through the viewing window Isobel could see Mark Brady and his solicitor sitting at one side of the table in the interrogation room.
Alanna introduced her to the two detectives already there to observe – Detective Constable Chin and Detective Sergeant Agnieska Romanska.
“I see you were mentioned in the news today,” Agnieska said.
“So I gather, I haven’t seen it.”
Agnieska worked at her phone and brought up the piece. She handed it to Isobel.
Isobel read through the article. It didn’t say much except that she was the walker, previously unnamed, who had found the body and that she was assisting An Garda Siochana.
“Thanks,” Isobel said, handing the phone back. When she had first heard that she had been mentioned in the paper she was terrified but now reading it, it didn’t seem so bad. At the end of the day lots of people had the same name. It would mean very little to lots of people. She could feel her chest relaxing as some tension trickled away.
Chin said, “At least we’ve got someone for the murders.”
Isobel frowned. “I thought there were some queries about whether it was him?”
“Oh I’m sure he’ll do his best to wriggle out of it but Eoin and Alanna are a great team and they’ll get him.”
“But –”
“It’s what the city needs, to have this guy behind bars. Everyone is jumpy. At least people will relax a bit now and stop wondering who The Shadow is.”
Isobel frowned. It was true. She had felt the anxiety herself. Even when she had been out walking with Patricia in broad daylight she couldn’t help paying more attention to the men passing by.
Behind the two-way mirror Alanna and Eoin entered the room and sat down at the table. Mark was already at the table with his solicitor whom Alanna identified for the recording as Sonia Kane.
Eoin said, “Mark, we need to establish your whereabouts on Monday night and also a week ago on the night Michelle Cavan was attacked.
Mark pulled out his diary. He turned it to show Eoin. “I gave a
lecture in Cork to a group of runners on Monday night.”
“What time was the talk?”
“It started at seven and finished at nine. I left Limerick at four to travel down to Cork and I wasn’t home until eleven thirty.”
“And the Monday night before?”
“I was playing football with some friends of mine.”
“From what time?”
“We met after work, around six thirty, to play and then we went for a few pints afterwards.”
“We’ll need a list of those friends and where you were,” Alanna said.
Sonia Kane reached a sheet of paper towards Alanna. “Obviously in light of what’s happened in the city we expected these questions so we have the list already prepared for you.”
Alanna took the paper and glanced at it.
Sonia Kane said, “As you can see on both nights my client has multiple witnesses so I can see no reason to keep him here.”
“I have a number of other dates that we need to check.”
“What is this about?” Sonia asked. “Why are you asking about other nights? What has that got to do with this case?”
Alanna looked at Eoin.
“We would like to know where you were on Wednesday the 25th of January last year?” he said.
“I demand to know why you are asking about this?”
“There was a failed attack that night which we think was by the same man.”
Sonia Kane nodded at Mark.
“I can’t be sure and I don’t have that diary with me but I think I was in England with my girlfriend. I love Manchester United and she took me over as a birthday treat.”
Alanna smiled. “You were in England.”
Mark looked at her. “You already knew?”
Sonia’s voice hardened. “You already knew!”
Eoin clicked his tongue.
“You already suspected that Mark was not the man you wanted,” Sonia said.
“Did you know Michelle Cavan and Catriona Molloy?” Eoin asked.
Mark looked at Sonia. She nodded.
Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller Page 18