Alanna made some notes in her notebook. “Brenda, what you have told us here is really helpful. Between you and Mark it may give us another line of enquiry.”
Brenda face creased in worry.
“I know you don’t want to come to the Garda station but it would be good if we had what you have told us in a statement. I could send a plainclothes Garda in an unmarked car out to do that. No one would know she was a Garda. It would be like Isobel calling. No one would know and it would help us in the case. Would that be alright?”
Brenda looked at Alanna and then at Eoin. “Do you think you can get this man?”
Eoin took a deep breath. “Brenda, we’re here because we’re determined to get him. We don’t want to make you more anxious, or put you under pressure, but I promise that your statement would be helpful. Do you think that you could do it?”
Brenda looked at Isobel for a second and then nodded. “If you organise it like you said, then yes I’ll make a statement.”
“Thank you, Brenda,” Alanna said. “I’ll send Sergeant Romanska out. She’s very good.”
Brenda nodded. Alanna made a call to Agnieska and then handed the phone to Brenda to agree a time.
As they said goodbye at the door, Isobel hugged Brenda. “You did so well.”
“Do you really think it might help?”
Isobel held onto Brenda’s forearms and looked her in the eye. “Yes, I do.”
Brenda nodded.
In the car Eoin said, “Alanna we need those car registrations from Mark asap. Get Chin on that immediately and get him to look at the dash cams. I want them reviewed today. And find out about Ian’s alibi. We need that information.”
Alanna made some more calls. As she talked into her mobile, Isobel whispered to Eoin. “Where now?”
Eoin rubbed his face. “Charles Purcell, the bus driver for the club. Chin spoke to his employer and he finishes his shift at four o’clock when he returns to the depot.” He looked at his watch. “We should be in perfect time for him.”
Chapter 41
Charles Purcell parked the minivan at the daycare centre and made his way over to their car.
Eoin opened the door and stood out
Purcell said, “I’ve been expecting you all day.”
“We had some other things to attend to.”
“I hope one of them included releasing Mark Brady. I never heard such rubbish in my life.”
“Perhaps we could go somewhere and talk?”
Charles sniffed. “I live near here. You can give me a lift home.”
He opened the back door and sat in beside Isobel.
Eoin got back in.
“Straight ahead,” said Purcell.
Eoin said, “We know the way.”
Charles took a shallow breath.
Alanna drove unerringly to Purcell’s house which was near Saint Mary’s Church on the road out from Limerick City Centre towards Corbally.
Purcell opened the red door of his house and led the way inside.
The hallway was dark but the floor was beautiful old wood and the walls a neutral colour. A honeyed wood door to their left was closed. Charles Purcell led them through to a kitchen and dining area at the back with patio doors opening to a small, manicured lawn.
“Have a seat. Tea?”
Alanna said, “Yes.”
Charles whistled softly as he busied himself making tea. He produced biscuits and buns, and set them on the table arranged on a plate. He added cups and saucers along with a matching sugar bowl and milk jug.
He seemed very relaxed but as he poured the tea, the tremor in his hands caused tea to splash into Eoin’s saucer. The whistling stopped.
“This is nice,” Eoin remarked.
Charles scowled. “What do you want to know?”
“Where were you on Monday night?
Charles shook his head. “Are you for real?”
“Where were you?”
“I was here.”
“Alone?”
“Of course.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
“I told you I was alone.”
“Did you make any phone calls?”
He frowned. “Monday? Yes, yes, I remember now, I Skyped my daughter-in-law in America at eight o’clock. It was only the afternoon with her and I wanted to ask her about what present to send one of the kids for his birthday. We chatted for an hour, about my health and about my son and his habit of overworking and about some renovations and redecorating they’re planning. Is this for real? Do you really suspect me? At my age?”
“We’ll need to see proof of that call,” Eoin said.
“No problem.” He brought up something on his phone.
Alanna reached out for it and wrote something in her notebook.
“Please don’t frighten or upset my family,” Charles said. “I don’t want them worrying that I’m in trouble.”
“Of course not, Mr. Purcell,” Eoin said. “We just need to be thorough. What more can you tell us?”
“Nothing that’s going to help. I didn’t even realise that both those murdered women had kids who played basketball until I copped you were interviewing all of us connected with the club. I don’t know all of the boys’ names let alone who their parents are.”
“The children come from different parts of the city rather than all being from the same area?”
“Exactly. We only deal with the under-twelve team so we usually only have the boys for a season or two at the most. New lads are coming through all the time as basketball gets more popular and of course some kids drop out and parents move with jobs, or split up.”
Alanna said, “There must be some that you remember?”
Charles scowled again. “Course I do. The ones who’re very good and you know are going to make it and the ones who are really well behaved. Not all of them are – course I get to know those too, the ones who cheek you and treat you badly because you’re just a driver. But Ian is good at keeping them in line and so is Mark. Tim is, too, to be fair. In fact, we have a great little team going and the lads are doing well at the moment.”
Isobel could see the softness under his brusque façade.
“What made you interested in basketball?” she asked.
Charles smiled. “My grandsons play in the States.” His voice got hoarse and he coughed to clear it.
“You must miss them. What age are they?”
Charles said nothing for a moment and then pulled out his wallet. He showed Isobel the photo of two teenage boys. Isobel guessed them to be sixteen and fourteen.
“They started playing when they were ten, six years ago. I was over and saw a few games and even went along to the practice. When I heard that Ian was starting a Limerick team, I contacted him and volunteered to be their driver. I go to most of the practices and all the games. It’s not the same as being there with my grandsons,” he laughed, “but when we chat we always compare how our teams are doing.” His voice wavered again. He lifted his cup of tea and took a swallow.
“And the other members of the backroom, what can you tell me about them?” Eoin asked.
Charles looked Eoin in the eye. “I can tell you right now that none of them is a murderer.”
Alanna said, “You seem very sure.”
Charles cupped his hands together. “I was a soldier. I knew my men. I had to know what they were capable of. I knew my men then and I know the men I work with now and none of these men is capable of murder.”
“What about Ian being a stalker?” Eoin asked.
Charles tipped his head. “Oh, you heard about that. The big idiot. He hasn’t the sense he was born with. Mark and Tim had a word with him and that was the end of it. I had a word too. I told him that if I heard a whisper of anything again that I would use my army skills on him.” He laughed. “He was terrified.”
“He did frighten Brenda,” Alanna said.
Charles frowned. “I know he upset her but that got sorted out. I know she was very nervous another time b
ut it wasn’t Ian. We made sure of that. Then she stopped coming altogether to the practices. I was real sorry about that. She’s a lovely woman and her son is a credit to her.”
“Did you ever see anyone else hanging around more than they should or anything that you considered suspicious?” Alanna asked.
Charles frowned. “Some of those fathers were so competitive that they were definitely capable of murder.”
“Really?” Isobel said.
Charles rolled his eyes. “We had it all. It was like a regular soap opera at one stage.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the same Christmas as Ian was misbehaving we had another woman run off with a father – well, an uncle actually.”
“Oh, we heard about that.”
“That’s not all. The abandoned husband, some big shot in Limerick, turned up ranting and raving. Mark sorted him out but that husband was mad as hell. He definitely could be violent.”
“And his name?”
“Don’t remember – nor hers.”
“Did he ever come back or take an interest in the other mothers?” Eoin asked.
“No, he didn’t!” Charles snapped. “Do you think we would have allowed that? Mark talked to him. He apologised and even made a donation to the club by way of an apology. He never showed up again. His wife was a quiet wee thing, not a bit like him. She drove a battered old car. His was a flashy Merc.”
“Interesting as all of this is, what we’re really concerned with is anyone or anything you thought might be suspicious?”
Charles shook his head. “Honest, we would have reported it at the time.”
Eoin nodded.
“Are you going to release Mark Brady?”
Eoin stood up. “Yes, this evening.”
“Thank God. It was madness suspecting him. He’s a great guy.”
Chapter 42
Eoin marched out to the car and sat in, slamming the door. Alanna raised an eyebrow to Isobel as they opened their doors. Isobel had barely sat in when Eoin turned in the passenger seat.
“We don’t have time to listen to all the gossip that goes on in the club. Just stick to the facts that are actually helpful.”
Isobel felt her eyes narrow. “Mr. Purcell was enlightening us about his opinion of who was capable of rape and murder. Considering what is going on, I find that interesting. And even if it has nothing to do with the case it’s certainly part of building rapport with a witness whose opinion of other things we are taking. Don’t take out your frustrations about this case on me.”
Eoin swung to face forward again and Isobel looked into the rearview mirror and caught Alanna giving her a smile.
Eoin rubbed his face with his hands.
Alanna met Isobel’s eye in the rearview mirror. She smiled. “He’s always like this in the middle of a case. You just have to keep him in line.” She glanced at Eoin. “I know you’re stressed and worried about more attacks and getting The Shadow but we are making progress. We have some leads. We have DNA from The Shadow and we have a list of cars and footage from a time when he likely was casing one of the women he attacked. We need time to distill all of that into usable evidence.”
Eoin grinned. “Distill?”
“That’s what came to me in the moment. Maybe I need a drink. Maybe you do too.”
Eoin laughed.
He turned again to Isobel. “I’m sorry. Alanna’s right. I get like a bear with a sore head during a case. It really shook me up that you were attacked. That shouldn’t have happened.”
“It shook me up too.”
“I really do think we have The Shadow worried,” Alanna said. “Why else would he attack Isobel? I think he knows that she’s helping us and I mean really helping us.”
Isobel laughed. “As opposed to what?”
“As opposed to attention-grabbing uselessness.”
Eoin exhaled wearily. “You mean Gregory Hayes. He’s going to be at the press conference now for the release of Mark Brady.”
“I can tell that you’re relishing the prospect.”
Eoin shook his head.
“You know that public help is really important,” Alanna said. “For God’s sake, you spend your life trying to help the public. So talk as if you were talking to friends, to Zoe. That’s my pep talk over now.” Alanna caught Isobel’s eye in the rearview mirror again. “Eoin gets performance anxiety and behaves badly. For someone who’s great in a crisis, like last night, he’s shit when it comes to TV.”
Eoin laughed. “Before we go back to Henry Street, I want to call on Jake Cavan.” He turned in his seat to face Isobel again. “He’s been begging us for a chance to talk to the woman who found his wife. He’s very upset. We put him off by saying that you had a right to privacy but, now that your name and photo has been all over the paper, he has phoned me about twenty times leaving messages.”
“Me too,” Alanna added.
“He is definitely going to find you one way or another. Alanna and I think it would be best if we all went together to talk to him. Are you up to it?”
Isobel swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”
“Alanna, you know the address. It’s not far away.”
Alanna started the car and moved into the traffic.
Chapter 43
As they climbed out of the car Isobel could feel butterflies in her stomach. They were in an estate on the outskirts of Corbally, not too far from the river walk where Isobel had found Michelle. The houses were all detached, clustered around large green areas. There were four cars already parked near the house. The front door ahead of them was blue with a black piece of material covering it. As they walked up the drive the door opened, framing a man.
“Is this Isobel McKenzie?”
Eoin moved forward. “Yes, Jake, it is.”
“Come in. Come in.”
Isobel followed the others into the sitting room. Already there were two older couples and two children there. One of the women stood up. “We’ll take the children to the park while you talk to the Garda.”
Jake nodded. “That would be great.”
It took a few minutes before everyone was ready and took their leave. Throughout the bustle Jake, Isobel and the two detectives stood silent. With the closing of the front door the conversation, started on the front doorstep, resumed.
Jake moved towards Isobel his hand extended. “Isobel, you found Michelle?”
Isobel took his outstretched hand. “Yes. I’m very sorry.”
Jake kept hold of her hand and guided her to the sofa, taking the chair beside her. Alanna sat beside Isobel on the couch and Eoin took the other chair.
“I can hardly believe it has happened. When I woke up this morning for a few minutes it was just a normal day and then reality came crashing in.” He shook his head. “I know you have been helping Eoin and Alanna.” He looked over at them. “And you arrested Mark.”
Eoin sat forward in his chair. “Mark was helping us with our enquiries. He is being released later today.”
Jake let out a cry.
Eoin sat further forward. “He has an alibi. He didn’t attack Michelle.”
“Kill Michelle. He killed her.”
“Jake, it wasn’t Mark,” Alanna said.
“But the news!”
“The news was wrong. Mark definitely didn’t do it.”
Jake moaned. “I just want you to catch whoever did this. I want him to be punished for what he did to Michelle and to Catriona, the other woman. “
“We are doing everything we can, Jake.”
“Poor Michelle. She must have been so frightened when this monster, when he …” His eyes filled with tears. “We didn’t know she had a problem with her heart. We didn’t know.”
Isobel put her hand on top of his. “I’m sure she was frightened but, it happens so fast, hopefully she wasn’t frightened for long.”
Jake studied her, taking in her face and noting the scarf she had tied around her throat earlier in the day to cover her neck. “How do you
know? What happened to you?”
Isobel frowned.
He pointed at the scarf. “Did he attack you too?”
Eoin stood up. “Jake, you wanted to talk to Isobel – what did you want to say to her?”
Jake followed Eoin with his eyes then turned back to Isobel.
“I wanted to see you to thank you for finding Michelle. When I saw that you had been helping the Garda I wondered if you had seen anything, anything that would help them find that monster. But you couldn’t have – she died the night before. I was wondering what you are doing to help them.”
“I am helping because …” Isobel hesitated. What could she say? What was appropriate to say to a man grieving for his wife? It seemed unethical to lie to him, to dissemble. Yet, knowing more might only torment him more. When they found The Shadow, and Isobel was determined that they would, how would he feel then when all of the facts came out? There was no right answer, no easy answer. As always in situations like this she felt that the truth was the only way forward. “I found other women whom this man has attacked.”
Jake leaned closer to her. “Other women?”
“Yes.”
Jake looked at Eoin and Alanna.
Eoin sat down again.
“Before Michelle, he attacked other women?” Jake asked.
Isobel nodded. “He raped and strangled them.”
Jake looked again at Eoin and Alanna. “But they didn’t die?”
Isobel shook her head. “No.”
He swung violently towards Eoin. “Why didn’t you catch him sooner? Why had you not got warnings out? Then my wife mightn’t have died.”
“We didn’t know about the rapes.”
Jake swung back to Isobel. Tears poured down his face. “Why didn’t they report it?”
“They were too afraid. He threatened to harm their families if they did.”
Jake shook his head.
Isobel looked at Eoin. He nodded slightly.
“He had found a way to target women and to keep them silent by threatening their nearest and dearest.”
Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller Page 24