Broken Silence: A tense psychological thriller

by Fran McDonnell

  “Am I going to Alanna’s?”

  Eoin grinned at Alanna. “No. We’ve found you new accommodation.”

  Isobel looked from one face to the other.

  “You see how popular you are, we’re all fighting to have you,” Alanna said.

  Isobel raised her eyebrows. “And who won tonight?”

  Eoin grinned. “Colette. I’ll be there too, of course.”

  “Colette?”

  “Yes. And dinner is included. You’re invited for dinner too, Alanna.”

  “I’d love to but I’ll pass. Daniel wants to see me, not to mention Zoe. Ring me with any major breakthroughs you come up with.”

  Chapter 46

  Alanna and Eoin drew up outside Colette’s house. Alanna jumped out and produced an overnight bag from the boot. Isobel climbed out.

  “Zoe dropped this bag off for you earlier when Eoin said that you should stay here tonight. It’s just got night clothes, toiletries and underwear.”

  Isobel took her bag, a tad reluctantly. Somehow she had felt very relaxed staying with Alanna. The prospect of staying with Colette and a stressed-out Eoin was not so appealing.

  “Thank you so much for last night and thank Zoe for all of this.” Isobel gestured to the bag.

  Eoin rolled down his window. “I have a few things to do. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

  “OK.”

  The front door opened and Isobel could see Colette waving from the doorway.

  “See you later.” Eoin rolled up his window and Alanna took off.

  Colette walked out to meet Isobel. “Let me take that bag for you. Did Eoin give any idea of when he would be back?”

  “He just said that he would be back in time for dinner.”

  Colette led the way into the house. “That will be a first.”

  “I can imagine.”

  Colette led the way upstairs. The walls were covered in raised paper in a stone-and-mushroom colour. Light fell onto the staircase from a back window and the effect was warm and luxurious. She showed Isobel into a bedroom with a bay window at the front of the house. The room was decorated in a muted peach colour – with an ensuite, Isobel was relieved to see.

  “This is lovely.”

  “Why don’t you get settled? Do you drink gin?”

  “Yes, yes, I do.”

  “Good. I’ll make us a gin.”

  Isobel smiled her thanks. She unpacked her new pyjamas and underwear and arranged her toiletries in the bathroom. Everything was beautiful. She sat on the edge of the bed, feeling overwhelmed and missing her own house.

  Isobel rang Patricia. After three rings she answered.

  “Hi, Isobel. How are you doing?”

  “Good. My throat is much better today. I’m staying with Colette and Eoin tonight.”

  “That’s good. Colette was right about The Shadow attacking someone on the investigation. She seems very on the ball. Pick her brain tonight for anything useful about The Shadow. I’ve been keeping up with the news and they’ve released Mark Brady.”

  “Yeah, he’s definitely not involved but there are a few new lines of enquiry.”

  “Good. Malcolm sends his love.”

  “What is all that noise behind you? Are you in a bar? Are you and Malcolm having a drink?”

  Patricia laughed. “Yes.”

  “Say hi from me.”

  “I will. I can’t wait to hear about these new leads but I can’t really talk here. It will have to wait until tomorrow.”

  Isobel took the hint. “No problem. I’ll call tomorrow.”

  “Do, do. Talk then.”

  Isobel hung up.

  Her phone rang almost immediately.

  “Isobel, oh my God. Jo rang me this morning and I’ve just seen the news from Limerick – you were attacked last night. Are you alright?”

  “Dave. I’m fine.”

  “On the news it’s suggesting that the man who attacked you is the same one who killed those other women? You could have been killed. You could have died.”

  “Dave, I’m fine. The gardaí are protecting me now. I’m safe.”

  “Maybe Jo or I should come and stay with you?”

  “No. Honestly, I’m not staying at home at the moment. I’m being protected.”

  “With a bodyguard?”

  “No, I’m staying with some of the gardaí.”

  “Like a safe house?”

  “This isn’t a movie.” Isobel rolled her eyes.

  “Why did you have to get involved with this case? It’s too dangerous.”

  “Dave, I found the body, of course I was involved.”

  “But why are you still involved? Are you trying to solve another case like you did in London?”

  “I’m helping the gardaí like any concerned citizen.”

  “Jo said that you had found some information that was really useful to them.”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you close to catching this man?”

  “Not as close as I would like to be.”

  “I hope you catch him soon. I won’t feel you are safe until I hear that he is behind bars.”

  “You’re not the only one. I think every woman in Limerick City is feeling the same.”

  “Jo says you took a self-defence class.”

  “Yes, thank God. That really helped me and I had my walking sticks with me too.”

  “You’d better make sure you keep them near.”

  “I will. I have to go.”

  “Stay safe.”

  “Bye.”

  Isobel set her phone on the bed beside her. She could understand Dave’s concerns. Today had been busy with interviews and with Eoin and Alanna at her side she had been able to keep the anxiety at bay. Now sitting here, she could feel the knot in her stomach. Dave’s questions had mirrored a worry she had had all day. How long were the gardaí going to protect her? And how would she cope if she was at home alone? Isobel put her face in her hands. She felt as if, first hand, she was getting a window into Emer and the other women’s world.

  She took a deep breath. For tonight she was here, safe. She would have preferred to stay with Alanna and Zoe but they had a baby and she couldn’t expect them to keep her indefinitely. Maybe tomorrow night she could stay with a friend – maybe Rebecca? But that might put Emer at risk again, so maybe not. Isobel took some more deep breaths. It was better to stop worrying about tomorrow night. She would figure something out. Now she would do her best to relax and go along with what was happening.

  She stood up, no more prevaricating.

  She found Colette in the sitting room with her feet up. She had a gin glass dressed with a slice of lime in her hand and gestured to another sitting on a side table.

  Isobel lifted it and clinked glasses. “Sláinte!”

  “Sláinte!”

  Isobel sat down.

  Colette said, “I’m delighted you’re staying. It’s the first time that Eoin has asked me to keep anyone.”

  Isobel laughed. “Maybe he’s worried that he’ll get the blame if something happens to me.”

  “I don’t think that’s it.” Colette laughed. “My big brother is …”

  Isobel choked on her drink.

  Colette jumped up. “Let me get you a drink of water.”

  She was back in a few moments. “Are you alright, Isobel? Is it your throat?”

  Isobel nodded and gulped down some water. Coughing was not good for her throat. She touched it tenderly.

  “Let me get you some ice.”

  Isobel nodded. Left alone she put her head in her hands. Eoin was Colette’s brother, hence the photo and the closeness. How could she have made that mistake? What sort of investigator did that make her? How could her judgement have been so clouded? Isobel swallowed. There was only one answer to that, however uncomfortable – it had been her way of denying her interest in Eoin. With everything that was going on with her health and her body, she could hardly believe that it could be true. One thing at least, it was going to make spendi
ng time with Colette interesting, in more ways than one.

  Colette arrived with a glass of ice.

  Isobel smiled. “Thank you. The coughing aggravated things a bit.”

  “I know. Eoin told me about the horrific attack on you. Are you OK?”

  “I’ve hardly had time to think about it. We’ve been so busy. I scratched him during the attack and the DNA is a match for the woman who fought him off a year and a half ago. He had on a rubber suit, like the women who had been raped described.”

  “Yes. This rubber suit is a sign he knows about forensics. But anyone can find that out now from the internet. He’s clever and careful.”

  Isobel nodded.

  “From what you’ve told me about his modus operandi, I think it’s all about power,” Colette went on. “He gets a thrill from turning attractive, happy women into frightened shadows of themselves. He wants to do that. In fact, he follows up to make sure that they live in fear.”

  “Yes, definitely.”

  “That sort of behaviour, following up like that, it’s very intense, obsessive. It is as if he doesn’t want to let go of the crime, as if he wants to have evidence of his power and the effect of it. That mindset suggests to me that he would collect trophies, mementos that allow him to remember the crimes. He would want to look at them. These trophies would remind him of his power over the women. They would be his way of reliving what happened and reaffirming his power.”

  Isobel thought of her dream of the man looking at his treasures. Maybe that is what the dream was trying to tell her.

  “What sort of trophies?”

  “Anything the woman owns.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like a piece of jewellery or a piece of clothing. Typically underwear. Often a lock of hair.”

  Isobel rubbed her forehead. “None of the women have mentioned losing something or something being taken from them. Though they mightn’t have noticed a small lock of hair.”

  Colette made a face.

  Isobel said, “I never asked specifically about missing objects but I feel sure they would have mentioned it.”

  Colette stood up, setting her gin on the mantelpiece. She paced back and forward in front of the fireplace. “They probably would have.” She paced. “What other memento could he take?” Colette clicked her fingers. “Maybe he took pictures.”

  “Again none of the women mentioned that but he could have done when the women were unconscious.” Isobel swallowed a bitter taste at that. “One of his victims talked to Eoin and Alanna today. She felt watched in the weeks before she was raped.”

  Colette paused in her movement. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Sometimes I’m not sure how much I should be saying about what is going on.”

  “Oh no, don’t worry. Eoin tells me a lot. After all, I used to work with them. And since Gregory took over, well, Eoin doesn’t trust him, so he still runs things past me. That’s why he’s upset about you.”

  Isobel frowned.

  “Because I warned you all that something like this might happen and he blames himself for not taking it seriously enough.”

  “But I heard the warning. I thought I was safe. I was out of the city. I was walking alongside a busy road with lots of people passing. I genuinely did not think that I was putting myself in any danger.”

  “Eoin thinks that Gregory Hayes should have issued a similar warning. If he had then Eoin could have got more resources. But Gregory hasn’t seen the same crimes I have.” She shook her head.

  “Where did you get your experiences?”

  “You noticed my certificate from America?”

  Isobel nodded.

  “I went over there to train and I worked there for a couple of years. It was good experience but harrowing.” Colette looked into the empty fireplace.

  “That bad?”

  Colette turned to her. “Yes, that bad. The Shadow is more like some of those cases.”

  “You don’t seem as angry at Gregory as Eoin is?”

  Colette looked away. “No.”

  Isobel felt her reticence. She stayed silent.

  Colette sat down and sipped her gin. She held the glass against her chin and looked at Isobel over it. “Eoin could never forgive him for getting me thrown off the investigation but it was the fact that he was my partner when he did it that particularly upset him.”

  Isobel raised her eyebrows. “You and Gregory were a couple?”

  Colette nodded.

  “That must have been painful for you.”

  “It was, but there are more painful things.”

  Isobel sipped her drink. She longed to ask more but felt that that would be counter-productive so she stayed silent.

  “The case that I was working on, that caused all the trouble, it reminded me of something from my time in the States. Everyone thought I was overreacting. Maybe I was. I had other things happening at the time. They caught someone. The crimes stopped. I was wrong. Gregory was worried about me. Eoin forgets, or refuses to acknowledge that. He thinks he’s a ruthless career man who would throw his granny, or partner, under the bus.”

  Isobel said, “But –?”

  Colette shook her head wearily. “But it’s more complicated than that.” She set down her drink and stood up again. “That’s as much as I’ve ever told anyone and I’m leaving it there. Let’s get back to The Shadow.”

  “Right.”

  Colette reached out and touched Isobel’s hand. “You’re easy to talk to. I can see why witnesses would open up to you.”

  In a second she had swung away and resumed her pacing.

  “So this woman felt she was being watched. He could have been taking pictures.”

  Isobel sat forward. “Yes, yes, he could. And he did send photos of her children to one of the women after she had gone for help.”

  “Proving that he was watching her after the rape.”

  “Yes. It really scared her. She was terrified to say anything about what had happened to her to anyone.”

  “He could have taken pictures before the attack and after so he could see the effect he had had.”

  “What you’re saying makes sense.”

  Colette’s pacing extended further along the room. “So he possibly has photos, before and after photos, that show his power. The photos show his impact on the women, his power over them. He would want to look at the photos so he can feel and see his power. But …”

  “But what?”

  “But this guy wears a rubber suit. He is careful to leave no trace. He’s careful about everything, so the photos would be well hidden, very secure.” Colette kept walking her hands behind her back. “He would want access to them but also a layer of protection.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A metaphorical layer of rubber, which probably means that he would keep the photos, not at his primary location but somewhere else that is important to him but is not so easily associated with him.”

  “That kind of makes sense. How are we going to find him and his hiding place?”

  Colette turned. “That’s not my job. My job is to get you into his mind so that you can find him.”

  Isobel shivered.

  “I know. That’s actually why Gregory was worried about me. He thought it was too hard on me.” She shrugged. “And maybe he was right.”

  Isobel stayed silent.

  Colette stopped pacing and sipped her drink. She shook her head. “I’m convinced that there was a trigger event.”

  “Yes, you mentioned that.”

  “The first woman who was unsuccessfully attacked, that was in January last year, right?

  “Yes, we believe so, but obviously, that’s a theory. There could be earlier victims that haven’t come forward.”

  “True.”

  “We are basing that assumption on the locks on the gate in Corbally and the similarities between Nicky’s attacker and the perpetrator described by the later victims. It was as if after Ni
cky he upgraded how he did things.”

  “Let’s assume that you are correct. I think something happened to this man around Christmastime and that the attacks were a way to feel powerful in his world again.”

  “That makes sense. And the something that happened that upset him, the trigger event, that event most likely involved a woman?”

  “Yes, and a loss of some sort.”

  They heard a noise. Isobel jumped.

  “Relax. It’s OK. That’s probably Eoin. He had to go home to collect some belongings.”

  The door swung open. Eoin put his head in. “I’ll leave my things upstairs. The usual room, I presume?”

  “Yes.”

  “On the gin already I see. Alright, Isobel?”

  “Yes.”

  Colette looked at her watch. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Hurry up.”

  They heard Eoin climbing the stairs.

  “Please don’t talk to Eoin about me and Gregory.”

  Isobel made a face. “I don’t think you actually told me anything.”

  Colette inclined her head. “Maybe not.”

  Isobel said, “You don’t have to worry.”

  “Thank you. Let’s go through to the kitchen.”

  In the kitchen Colette lifted a roast beef out of the oven, followed by a tray of roasted vegetables.

  “I’m a vegetarian,” Isobel confessed.

  Colette laughed. “I guess you’ll need a double portion of vegetables then.”

  Isobel smiled. “Exactly.”

  Eoin bustled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Any wine?”

  “Of course.”

  “White, Isobel?”

  “It’s a Sauvignon Blanc,” Colette said.

  Isobel smiled. “Perfect.”

  Eoin filled two glasses for Isobel and Colette and then opened a red for himself. Colette dished up everyone’s meal.

  She sat down and raised her wineglass. “To catching The Shadow!”

  “To catching The Shadow!”

  As they ate, Colette filled Eoin in on what they had been discussing.

  “You think photos are his trophies?”

  “I would have thought that it was something personal to the women but no one has said that anything is missing. Though there is the possibility he took a lock of hair.”