Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller

by Fran McDonnell

  “Michelle was the first woman he killed?”

  Isobel nodded. “Yes. When someone I know heard that I had found Michelle’s body they told me about being raped and strangled. She had been too afraid to tell anyone up to that, not even her partner. Her family thought she was depressed when she was actually terrified to go out of her house. I think Michelle’s death made her want to risk talking, to risk telling someone.”

  “Are you sure it was the same man?”

  Eoin said, “Yes. This young woman’s story fits with what forensics found.”

  “I thought that there was no forensic evidence.”

  “Exactly, and this young woman’s description of what happened explained why perfectly.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We can’t give details at this point.”

  “Are there more victims?”

  Eoin nodded again at Isobel. She hesitated. He hadn’t given her any guidelines as to how much information she could reveal. Was that because he wanted her to tell Jake? Why? Because he couldn’t reveal the information himself, yet wanted Jake to know? That seemed the most likely explanation.

  “I have been able to find other women who won’t talk to the gardaí but who have been attacked by the same man.

  “How many women?”

  “We don’t know,” Alanna said. “Isobel has found four but there may be more. All of the women are afraid to come forward in case something happens to their families. If it wasn’t for Isobel we wouldn’t even know about them.”

  Jake turned to Isobel, pointing again at her neck. “What happened to you?”

  “He attacked me last night.”

  “The same man? He tried to strangle you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “I scratched him.”

  Eoin stood up again. “That’s enough, Isobel. I’m sorry, Jake, but I can’t allow Isobel to say any more. This is all confidential information. You cannot breathe a word to anyone. I don’t want anything jeopardizing this investigation. I’m sure you can understand that? We couldn’t tell you anything and Isobel has told you more than enough now. You have to trust us. We are making progress.”

  Jake took a number of jagged breaths. “I understand.”

  Eoin stepped over and touched Jake’s shoulder. “We are doing everything we can, mate. I promise. All of us.” He gestured to include Isobel and Alanna.

  Jake nodded. “Catch this man. I want him punished for what he did to Michelle and Catriona,” he swallowed, “and all of the other women. Make him pay.”

  Alanna stood up and Isobel followed.

  Jake stood too. He reached out for Isobel’s hand. “Thank you for telling me. It is horrible. From what you have told me, well, if Michelle had lived, she would have had a lot to cope with.” He swallowed. “Her death, and you finding her, means that this man is exposed and will be caught.”

  Isobel nodded. “Yes.”

  “Take care of yourself and the kids,” Eoin said.

  Jake nodded.

  There was a sombre silence until they were seated in the car.

  “Did I tell Jake everything you wanted him to know?” Isobel asked.

  “Enough,” Alanna said. “We wouldn’t have let you overstep the mark.”

  “Unfortunately, if it wasn’t for Michelle, we wouldn’t know anything about The Shadow,” Eoin said.

  Isobel said, “True.”

  Eoin continued, “And while that may be no comfort to Jake now, in the future it might be.”

  “Only if we catch him,” Alanna said.

  Eoin turned to her. “Which we are going to do.”

  Alanna smiled at him. “You see, here you are all positive and ready to meet your public.”

  Eoin groaned.

  “While you’re talking to the press, I’m going to follow up on those new leads. Isobel, you can wait with me.”

  “Actually,” Isobel said, “I want to talk to Nicky again.” She saw Alanna make a face in the mirror. “I want to tell her about my attack and warn her to be careful.”

  “Can’t you phone her?”

  “Given what happened to me, it would be easier if I spoke to her.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “I’m not sure what the press office has decided,” Eoin said. “They may make what happened to you public knowledge anyway.”

  “True. But Nicky has really helped us so I want to make sure that she is taking the warning seriously.”

  “Call her office and see where she is,” Alanna said.

  Isobel made a quick call. “She’s in court here in Limerick.”

  Alanna flicked a glance at Eoin. “I could drop Isobel at the court. There are officers there.”

  Eoin rubbed his stubble. “Fine. We’ll drop you at the court. When you’ve seen Nicky ring Alanna and she’ll get an officer to collect you and bring you to Henry Street.”

  “Can I not just walk up or get a taxi?”

  “No!” Eoin let out a heavy breath. “No.”

  Isobel bit her lip. “You’re really worried?”

  Eoin swung round in the seat. He said in a low voice, “Yes, I’m really worried.”

  Isobel looked in his troubled eyes. “OK. Of course, I’ll ring Alanna as soon as I’ve spoken to Nicky.”

  Alanna caught Isobel’s eye in the mirror again. “And no wandering off and talking to strange men.”

  Isobel grinned. “Alright, Mum.”

  “You may think we’re being over-protective but that’s how it has to be now,” Eoin said.

  Alanna reached out and patted his hand.

  He nodded in acknowledgement but said nothing more.

  Chapter 44

  Isobel had never been in Limerick courthouse. She walked up the shallow steps and into an entrance hall. To the right and left were corridors with rooms off them. There seemed to be four active courts at present. The hallway was busy with members of the public and solicitors milling around. She wondered if there was an afternoon recess.

  Isobel saw a guard. As she was about to ask him for Nicky, she spotted her walking down the corridor towards her.

  “Hi, Isobel! What’s the matter?”

  Isobel inclined her head towards a corner of the entrance hall where they could talk more privately. “Just a quick word.”

  Nicky nodded and followed her.

  “I wanted to let you know that I was attacked last night.” Isobel touched the scarf at her throat. “And almost strangled. But I got away before he got any further. Luckily it was on a main road and a car was passing by just then and stopped for me.”

  Nicky went pale and grasped Isobel’s arm. “Oh my God!”

  “I’m alright, obviously. But I wanted to come and tell you in person. Thankfully, after you telling your story, Patricia arranged for me to have some self-defence training and it actually saved my life, so as well as warning you I also wanted to thank you.”

  Nicky loosened her grip and then hugged Isobel. She released her and said, “Is it the same man who attacked me?”

  “I think so. He had on a rubber suit, gloves and a mask. I think you need to take some extra precautions now just in case.”

  “Are the gardaí protecting you?”

  Isobel smiled. “Oh yes. So far, apart from coming here, they haven’t let me out of their sight.”

  “Good.”

  They heard Nicky’s name being called.

  Nicky glanced up. “Oh God, look who’s coming.” She rolled her eyes.

  Isobel turned. A tall dark-haired man was staring at them as he made his way determinedly towards them.

  Nicky said into Isobel’s ear, “Brian Fitzwilliam. He’s a good solicitor but a really arrogant sod.”

  As they watched a silver-haired man stepped forward and blocked Brian’s movement forward, turning him sideways.

  Nicky said, “You never know, we might be lucky. Occasionally, I’m up against this guy in court. He fights dirty and really likes to win. Don’t get me wrong �
� if you were in accused of something he is the man you would want defending you. God knows what he wants with me.”

  Isobel was intrigued. She saw the silver-haired man reach out and shake the solicitor’s hand.

  Nicky shook her head. “Brian is such a political animal. He loves all of that glad-handing with the big wigs of the city.”

  Brian Fitzwilliam said something to the older man who then melted away.

  Brian continued towards them.

  “We’re out of luck. He’s dead set on talking to me,” said Nicky.

  Brian reached them and stopped in front of Nicky.

  “One of your admiring public?” she said.

  Brian flexed his lips. “Someone I helped in the past. People can be so grateful.”

  Nicky rolled her eyes. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  Brian glanced at Isobel. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your colleague.”

  “No.”

  “And yet she looks so familiar.”

  There was a silence.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me, Nicky? How else can I know if what I want to talk to you about is safe to speak of?”

  “This is a friend of mine, Isobel McKenzie.”

  “That name is familiar. Were you a client of Nicky’s? Perhaps we met in court.”

  Isobel said, “Obviously, you have work to discuss so I’ll leave you.”

  “Not at all. It can wait for another day. I know now. You were in the news yesterday. Weren’t you involved in the rape and murder case?”

  “I have to go.”

  “I know. I read about you. You found one of the bodies, didn’t you?”

  Nicky said, “Brian, if you’ll excuse me, I want to finish talking to my friend.”

  “Of course, of course. I’ll see you here another day and if not I’ll call you and arrange to meet.” Brian turned and walked away.

  Nicky said, “He drives me insane.”

  Isobel laughed. “Obviously.”

  “His wife was a friend of my sister. She left him. She emigrated to Canada and took the kids with her. I don’t blame her. I would want to be on the other side of the world from him too.”

  Isobel laughed. “It sounds personal.”

  Nicky laughed too. “I love when I beat him in court. Needless to say he hates it.”

  “I’ll bet he does.”

  “Childish but satisfying.”

  “That article and the photograph that was released on the internet didn’t do me any favours. It might even be why I was attacked.”

  “Oh God. That’s awful. I saw it too.”

  “And the attacker.”

  “There’s probably nothing that you can do about that legally, what with freedom of the press, and they had no way of knowing that it would put you in danger.”

  Isobel nodded. “I know.”

  “I really appreciate you coming to warn me. I’ll call my husband and make sure he meets me tonight. And I might take a leaf out of your book and brush up on my self-defence skills.”

  Isobel hugged Nicky and they parted.

  Isobel phoned Alanna to arrange transport to Henry Street.

  Chapter 45

  Back at the station, Isobel was taken straight up to Eoin’s office where he and Alanna were waiting for her.

  Eoin said, “The results from the samples under your nails are back.”

  Isobel sat down abruptly. “Well?”

  “We have a DNA sample.”

  Isobel made a fist. “Yes!”

  “There’s more.”

  Isobel perched on the edge of her chair.

  “The DNA you collected matches the DNA from Nicky’s attack.”

  “Wow! But Nicky’s DNA sample probably won’t be admissible in court, will it?”

  “We’re getting that looked into legally at the moment, but probably not,” Eoin said. “The chain of evidence was compromised. That doesn’t matter. We now know that the man who attacked Nicky and attacked you is the same man and your description and hers lend weight to what all of the witnesses you found said. I feel, at last, as if we’re getting somewhere.”

  “Thank God.”

  “The bad news is that we have a meeting again with Gregory Hayes, Assistant Commissioner Bradley and Superintendent Carruthers,” Alanna said.

  Isobel said, “Do I have to go?”

  Eoin stood up. “Yes, you do. I have to do something about this guy Hayes once and for all.”

  Alanna stood up and put a hand on Eoin’s shoulder. “What are you going to do?”

  Eoin shook off her hand. “I let him get away with what he did to Colette, but his leak almost cost Isobel her life and he’s going to pay for that.”

  “Eoin, you have no proof of any of those things. In fact, he definitely didn’t take the photograph.”

  “But he released her name and that started all the publicity. Ultimately he is responsible.”

  “We can’t prove it. He’ll wriggle out of it, you know what he’s like, as slippery as an eel.”

  “Well, get me some proof then,” Eoin said.

  “We’ve enough on our plate now. I’m not letting him distract me from the case. Let’s go to the meeting.”

  In the conference room. Isobel sat at the table beside Alanna with Eoin across from them. The others grouped themselves at the other end of the table.

  As everyone settled down Alanna bent towards her and murmured, “The Three Musketeers ride again.”

  Isobel smiled.

  Assistant Commissioner Bradley said, “It’s good to see you smiling, Ms. McKenzie. Considering your ordeal yesterday I’m delighted to see you looking so well.”

  Gregory Hayes was pale. “I was so sorry to hear of your attack, Isobel.”

  “If that article hadn’t been in the paper, Isobel wouldn’t have been in danger,” Eoin said. “You’d better not have leaked that information, Hayes.”

  Assistant Commissioner Bradley said, “I believe someone spoke to the reporter and he has refused to reveal his sources. We have released a statement to the public about the attack on you, Ms. McKenzie.”

  Isobel gasped.

  Bradley continued, “I felt the public needed to be aware of the danger and also I want reporters to be more responsible in what they’re doing. I realise you may not be in full agreement but I have to think of the bigger picture. I also want to say that your presence of mind in getting away and in obtaining a sample of DNA from your attacker was amazing. If I had any doubts about your contribution to this case, they are laid to rest.”

  “Since Isobel is helping us maybe we could dispense with Mr. Hayes’ contribution.” Eoin stared at Gregory Hayes.

  Bradley shook his head. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Hayes kept his head down.

  “And the fiasco of arresting Mark Brady?” Bradley said.

  “Some of the information that he gave us has proved to be useful,” Superintendent Carruthers said. “A woman who previously had given an anonymous statement has now come forward and made an official statement about being stalked and raped.”

  Bradley said, “And this second man from the basketball club …”

  “Ian Costello,” Eoin said.

  “Is he a possible suspect?”

  “No. We’ve checked with his gym, Fitbit. They have a swipe system of cards and we have checked the log.”

  “Someone else could use his card.”

  “True, but they also have CCTV. We have checked the footage. He has an alibi. It’s not him. But the two murdered women and Nicky and this new woman, Brenda, all had an association with the basketball club, as indeed do the confidential informants on the tapes. The link to the basketball club is definite.”

  “Isobel isn’t linked to the basketball club, is she?” Hayes said.

  There was a silence.

  Eoin said, “And your point is?”

  “My point is that you thought the club was the connecting factor with the victims but now he has attacked Isobe
l who is associated with the investigation. His MO may now have completely changed. He’s more unstable and more dangerous.”

  “What are you saying?” Alanna said.

  “If he has now gone outside his usual catchment group to attack Isobel and she managed to get away, he may attack someone else outside his usual catchment group.”

  “Like who?” Eoin asked.

  “Someone else involved in the investigation.” Hayes looked at Alanna. “A woman in authority or it could be that he’ll attack any woman.”

  Bradley rubbed his forehead. “That’s why we released a statement about your attack, Isobel. No one is safe. I need women to be vigilant. I don’t want another death on my hands.”

  Hayes said, “Hardly your hands.”

  “I’m in charge. We haven’t caught him yet.”

  “All our hands, sir,” Eoin said,

  Bradley looked at Eoin. “Whatever you need, pull out all the stops. We have to catch this guy soon.”

  Eoin looked at Hayes. Alanna reached out and touched Eoin’s arm.

  “Anything else?” Bradley asked.

  No one spoke.

  “Good luck. We’re going to need it.”

  They stood up and Eoin and Alanna went to speak to the superintendent.

  Hayes made his way over to Isobel. He reached out his hand to her. “I’m so glad that you’re alright. It was an awful shock to hear that you were attacked.”

  Isobel briefly touched his hand and then withdrew hers.

  He swallowed. “I’m sure everyone involved with the investigation, Garda and journalists, will be more circumspect now.”

  Isobel met his gaze. “I hope so.”

  He looked in her eyes. “Definitely.”

  Eoin came to Isobel’s side. “What are you saying, Hayes?”

  Gregory Hayes stepped back. “Just how glad I am that Isobel is safe.”

  “No thanks to you, I’m sure.”

  Hayes looked Eoin in the eye. “I was merely saying that I’m sure everyone was shocked by what happened and will be more careful in the future.”

  Eoin narrowed his eyes. “You’d better be.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Let’s go, Isobel. We have to take you into protective custody.” Eoin linked Isobel’s arm and escorted her out of the room.