Why She Ran

by Geraldine Hogan

  ‘Let me see, he dropped her off near enough to Butler’s bridge, drove along, quite shocked… coming from Tullyboy and then he picked her up at Tobair Mhuire.’ He looked again towards the map. His eyes followed Iris’s hand as she traced the route from Curlew Hall to Tobair Mhuire. It was almost eight miles. ‘Good God…’ Slattery’s voice was little more than an echo.

  Iris grabbed a ruler and held it against the two points. Using a thick black felt tip, she joined the points and let the marker run for an additional couple of inches west. The ruler ended centimetres away from the Duneata House estate.

  ‘She’s moving as the crow flies for home.’

  Nineteen

  Day 4

  Jack Locke always said, it’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good and Iris woke with those words in her ears. She wasn’t sure if it was more disturbing that suddenly she was aware of the space he took up in her thoughts, or the fact that up until now, she’d never really noticed how large his presence loomed within her. Either way, she did her best to shake off the enveloping gloom that recognising what had become of the family she thought she knew brought on these days. Instead, she picked up her steaming mug of coffee and heard Mrs Leddy’s carriage clock chime in the hallway beyond her room, as if to remind her precious time was passing. Time to get moving.

  It was almost seven thirty when she arrived into Corbally to find the incident room already half full of officers. She went to her office to escape the banter that was too much to cope with under the gaze of Rachel and Karena from the incident board. She heard a light tap on the door and she looked up to see Slattery’s outline in the glass.

  ‘Having a little break, are we?’ He looked as wrecked as she felt.

  ‘Come in.’ It was a revelation to realise that she was actually glad to see him. Somehow, his age and his curmudgeonly charm – if you could call it that – was comforting. ‘I’m just getting my thoughts together for the briefing.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ He glanced down at the empty refill pad before her. ‘Going well, I see.’

  ‘If you’re not going to say anything constructive you can just toddle off back under your rock.’

  ‘Well, what do you want me to say? It’s grunt work, that’s all we can do, go through the routine enquiries and then spend as much time as possible going back over everything we collect to see if we can find some small hole that doesn’t have a cover.’

  ‘I know, but time is against us.’ She looked out the condensation-filled window at the uninspiring view of the car park. ‘How on earth is Eleanor Marshall still out there giving us the slip, Slattery?’

  ‘She’s bright, maybe brighter than any of the people who knew her ever suspected,’ he said simply.

  ‘It’s still a long time to be wandering about the place.’ She exhaled loudly on a raft of desolation.

  ‘It’s a done deal as far as Ahearn is concerned – the fact that she’s given him the slip, he’s convinced that she’s our man, so to speak.’

  ‘Oh God, Slattery, I hate to admit it, but this time, he’s probably right.’ Iris groaned, hated herself for it.

  ‘Look, without her here, it’s just shooting in the dark.’ Slattery nodded out towards the incident room. ‘We know what every other person who was around the building that night has to say for themselves, she’s the only one who hasn’t been able to give us her version.’ Of course, he was right. They were meant to be in the business of justice, after all, being innocent until proven guilty. ‘All I know for certain is that we are doing the best we can, right? And now, you need to get yourself together, put on your happy face and convince them you believe we can solve it.’

  ‘Oh, yeah?’

  ‘Well, otherwise, Tony Ahearn is only waiting to leap into that seat you’re looking so comfortable in.’

  ‘You’re right. There’s one thing…’

  ‘Okay?’

  ‘Well, Eleanor being spotted, it might help us put the pressure on Marshall to get an up-to-date photo on the news…’

  They both realised Marshall’s reluctance, in the face of losing his younger daughter, may no longer be the obstacle it was before. On the other hand, he may just decide he wanted to play the same game going forward – bad enough to lose one daughter, he’d surely want to keep the second safe. Even if Eleanor was obviously not the favourite, he would not want the weight of public opinion to fall against her, particularly if one day this went to trial with Eleanor in the dock. Iris couldn’t blame him if he continued to try to control the information given out about his one remaining daughter.

  ‘We need to get up there today anyway, to talk about Karena with him.’

  ‘You can try, it won’t do any harm, I suppose.’ Slattery smiled wryly. ‘So long as you don’t mind risking another rollicking from Byrne.’

  ‘I think it would be well worth it, if Marshall agrees,’ Iris said, feeling a little more optimistic that maybe a renewed public appeal might help them find her quickly. ‘We’ve spent far too long faffing about the place trying to keep everyone sweet, and why? What’s the worst they can do to us? Take us off the case?’ She shook her head, not sure who she was angrier with, herself or Marshall or Byrne for not having the guts to do the right thing.

  One of the uniformed guards that Marshall had employed for his personal security was ex Corbally. He opened the gates for them when they arrived at the end of the scraggy road leading to the estate.

  ‘Trev.’ Slattery nodded to the officer. ‘You doing sentry work these days? We’ll have to get you a beefeater for Christmas, I suppose now.’

  ‘Very bloody funny. You wouldn’t be laughing half as hard if you were out here in all weathers and looking after a pair that won’t offer you so much as a cup of tea if your life depended on it.’

  ‘Ah well, I did hear life in the private sector isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,’ Slattery commiserated. ‘Are they saying anything about… well, you know…?’ He was looking for something useful – anything that Marshall wouldn’t share with the guards, but might say to his paid staff.

  ‘No, but he’s ramped up security all around the house since that kid got murdered up at Curlew Hall. If it was me, I’d be paying people to get out and look for my daughter, but there’s no telling what kind of stupidity too much money can buy, I suppose.’

  ‘Are the sentry duties new?’ Iris poked her head out.

  ‘Yep, thinks he’s JF bloody K now. No one’s going to tell him he’s really not that important, but I think he’s convinced that someone’s out to get him. Chance would be a fine thing, if you ask me,’ he grumbled.

  ‘Since Karena’s death?’

  ‘No, before that, he’s been nervy as hell since the McDermott lass died.’ He pulled back the gates and let them through with a nod, closing the gates out behind them as they made their way up the avenue.

  Today, at least, the sun was shining on the house, and unlike their first visit, Iris noticed the intricate mouldings in the plasterwork around the doors and windows and a cheerful array of shrubs at various points, punctuating the edge of the long rolling lawn. When they entered the hall this time, the sun shining through an impressive fanlight over the front door threw jewel-like colours across the otherwise lifeless entrance hall.

  ‘Mr Marshall,’ Iris said pleasantly as they followed Kit into the now familiar room, ‘thanks for seeing us so quickly. We’re sorry to disturb you again, but you know, with Karena’s death, there are things that we need to find out and time is everything in situations like this. First, though, how are you both doing?’ she asked as she took a seat, this time looking out across the gardens.

  ‘Yes, Sergeant, we’re as fine as you’d expect,’ Kit said curtly, and Iris knew there would be no easy way to create some sort of rapport with this man.

  ‘We do understand it’s not easy and this… well, the death of Karena, it’s such a tragic blow.’ To be fair, Iris knew what it was like to lose everything in a flash, but saying that wasn’t going to help Kit Marshall.
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  ‘I’m not sure it’s really sunk in for either of us yet, to be honest,’ he said, standing before the fireplace which held the ashes and the remains of a blackened log from the previous day. ‘She was our pride and joy, an exceptional child, really.’

  ‘Yes,’ Iris agreed, because even for the short time they’d spoken, she had a sense that Karena Marshall was one of those rare kids who had been blessed not just with brains and beauty, but with a gentleness that went to her bones. ‘The thing is, Mr Marshall, there’s still time to save your other daughter,’ she said softly.

  ‘Eleanor,’ he murmured, as if she was the constant worry, the booby prize when he’d hoped for first place.

  ‘Yes. Eleanor. You know that whatever has gone on between you in the past, this…’ Iris opened her hands in a gesture that encompassed everything about this terrible time. ‘This tragedy, well, it changes everything. When things like this happen, you don’t just lose people, you can find people too. It’s a reason to mend any bridges, and if you get a chance, it might be an opportunity to bring her home.’

  She knew, however, that Eleanor might be spending the next twenty years locked up if she was responsible for what happened to Rachel and Karena.

  ‘Of course,’ he said, as if he’d forgotten Eleanor was somewhere out in the woods. ‘Susan is out there now.’ He waved a hand towards the window. ‘She’s helping with the search. She told me you’ve moved along closer to here, on the road that heads over to the Comeragh mountains.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Iris confirmed. ‘It’s part of the reason we came out here today. We got a call last night; Eleanor was spotted on the road. A driver was heading in this general direction and so, at least, we can say she’s still…’ Iris couldn’t say anymore, she didn’t have it in her to cause the man any more worry or grief.

  ‘Alive,’ Slattery said flatly. ‘She walked in front of his car and—’

  ‘Oh dear God.’ Kit ran his hand back through his hair, as if it might somehow take some of the pressure from his head.

  ‘We think she’s fine,’ Slattery said. ‘No thanks to—’ But he stopped when Iris sharply caught his eye.

  ‘That’s right, no thanks to the fact that we’ve practically turned over the woods out at Curlew Hall. The thing is, we’re getting closer, but without the public having a good image of what Eleanor looks like now… Well, it’s not helping her. They need to know and it’s likely we’d have her picked up in no time.’

  ‘You want a new press conference?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You want to give the impression that Eleanor is some kind of crazed murderer and that she’s killed that McDermott girl? I can’t do that, don’t you see?’

  ‘We understand that you’re afraid of how it’s put out there, that if Eleanor did…’ She couldn’t say commit murder, not here, not now. ‘Well, if there are legal repercussions you wouldn’t want a jury to be tainted by what the red tops may sensationalise.’ Iris stopped, looked at the man before her. Kit Marshall had aged by about two decades in the past few days, but while he might almost be a broken man, his eyes retained that glint of steel about them, so she knew he was still no pushover. ‘Look, I don’t need to spell it out to you. She’s just a kid. All right, so perhaps she’s had a knack of finding herself in trouble, but she’s got epilepsy and if there is a killer out there in the woods with her, we both know she doesn’t have much of a chance if faced with what Karena and Rachel McDermott came up against.’

  ‘I don’t know. I need to think,’ Marshall said, moving from his position at the fireplace and standing with his back to them while he surveyed the gardens through the large casement window.

  ‘Can you tell us what Karena might have been doing out at Curlew Cross that night?’ Slattery’s words cut across the room after they’d sat for a while in the silence.

  ‘Your guess is as good as mine on that one,’ Marshall said drily.

  ‘Could she have made contact with her sister?’ Slattery asked.

  ‘I really couldn’t say. I know that they were very strict in Curlew Hall about mobile phones. Although we’d bought her one, it spent most of its time locked away. In places like that, phones are a privilege, it’s not like she could be ringing at every available opportunity.’

  Of course, they knew this. Eleanor’s phone was still locked away in Curlew Hall when they’d checked and it had seemed the only person she’d been in regular contact with was Karena; they’d kept in touch whenever she was allowed the phone. Karena’s phone bore out a similar result. It held just the normal stuff any teenage girl was likely to have, nothing that flagged she was in any kind of personal danger.

  ‘Well, it seems a little too coincidental that she just happened to be out there and then,’ Slattery started to say, but stopped as Iris shot him another warning look.

  She didn’t want to blow it with Marshall. She wanted him to agree to a second press meeting. Having him believe that Eleanor might be in danger was their best bet. The problem was, she wasn’t entirely sure that Kit wouldn’t prefer to have a second innocent murdered daughter than he would a live one serving time for murder. That thought made her shiver.

  ‘It’s not just a random attack in the woods so?’ He was checking, perhaps he’d tried to convince himself that it wasn’t connected.

  ‘There’s no question that it’s connected to the death of Rachel McDermott and by extension to Eleanor’s disappearance,’ Iris said, making it clear that there would be a Marshall connection regardless of how he tried to wriggle out of it. ‘But that just means that if there’s a murderer out there in those woods, Eleanor is in as much danger as either Rachel or Karena was.’ She stopped for a moment. ‘Mr Marshall, there’s no reason not to believe that she was the intended victim when Rachel McDermott was murdered.’ It was a long shot, but the truth was, they didn’t know and when you didn’t know, surely anything was possible.

  ‘I suppose it’s too close to be a coincidence.’ Marshall shrugged, as if it had been worth a try. ‘Well then, of course, we should make another appeal.’ Marshall leaned forward, his head sunk low on his shoulders, his normally straight frame crouched. ‘Could this be someone trying to get at me? I’ve stepped on plenty of toes over the years, but generally, I can’t see any of my business adversaries stooping to that level.’

  ‘We’ll need a possible list of people that might have reason to avenge you,’ Iris said, but the truth was, June had already trawled through every business deal. Marshall’s career was a trail of derelict buildings and tracks of unused land, bought for peanuts and made good. He had an eye for potential. Back when Limerick’s riverbanks had been little more than scrap yards, he had bought up vast amounts of land and transformed them into an empire of high-end business and luxurious living accommodation.

  ‘You’ve heightened your security here,’ Slattery said lazily.

  ‘I suppose I’ve thought about the fact that perhaps… I’ve had threats in the past,’ he said looking away from them now.

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter now, but it was all tied up with a property I purchased about ten years ago on the Northern Ireland border and there was a suggestion that some of the renegade paramilitaries might be hanging about with the intention of kidnapping Susan for a ransom…’ His voice petered out and Iris wondered if there was so much as a grain of truth in the words.

  ‘It’s not Eleanor you’re worried about so?’ Slattery cut across them.

  ‘Yes. No, well, there’s every reason to… Look, I don’t know. None of us know what she’s capable of and she’s always had… funny ideas about us.’

  ‘Right.’ Slattery managed a thin smile, which unfortunately looked far too morose to be engaging. ‘As I’ve said, Eleanor was spotted last night, between eight and nine, walking along the main road. We’re pretty sure now she’s making her way towards Duneata House.’ The words hung in the air, leaden weights, somehow suspended, holding with them dark expectation. ‘She may be making
her way home to you,’ he said flatly.

  ‘Well, that’s….’

  ‘Good? Yes, we think so. At least then we’ll be able to catch up with her. I suppose the only thing is, she still has to get here safely.’ Maybe lies are okay if they’re only told to save a life.

  ‘How many miles?’ Kit whispered hoarsely. It was hard to hear him. He’d closed his eyes and slumped down into his shoulders, the worry evident on his voice. ‘How many miles was she away from here when she had this accident?’

  ‘Am…let me check, I’d say about ten, but she’s been travelling, from what we can make out, in an almost straight line, directly towards Duneata House, so ten by road, but less on foot,’ Iris said. Eleanor’s last known location was some distance further away, but that was almost twelve hours ago now.

  ‘When do you want to do this press conference?’ Marshall said with a ring of defeat in his words.

  ‘We should go with it as soon as possible,’ Iris replied. ‘There’s just one more small thing. We’re trying to track down Eleanor’s case file from Curlew Hall, but I’m afraid it’s not there.’

  ‘We had it archived. It seemed like a sensible thing to do, what with everything one hears about these things getting into the wrong hands.’ He shook his head. It was understandable; who would want their personal notes at risk of being made public by some eager staff on the make? ‘It hasn’t been removed because we’d have been informed.’

  ‘Normally, sir, yes, but this is a murder inquiry and even FOI allows that the police may request files without consent in a murder inquiry.’

  ‘So where is it?’

  ‘All I can tell you is that it was taken out a couple of weeks ago, we think by Rachel McDermott.’

  ‘But she couldn’t do that, she would have needed permission.’ Kit’s voice held a quiver that Iris had a feeling presaged a sudden boiling temper. ‘Did Susan give permission?’

  ‘No, sir. We have reason to believe Rachel forged a permission signature.’