Who Took Eden Mulligan?

by Sharon Dempsey

  Back in the car, Danny sighed and thumped the steering wheel in frustration. ‘This fucking case. I can’t get a break. She’s in there messing with us. All this softly, softly approach is getting us nowhere.’

  He sighed again, putting the keys in the ignition, but not starting the engine.

  ‘Sorry. I’m pissed off. For a second I thought we were going to get somewhere with her this time.’

  ‘What is it about her that has got under your skin?’

  ‘I don’t know. The mystery of it all, I suppose. It’s clear she didn’t do it, yet she claims she did. Why? What has driven her to feel like this, to be so desperate to take the blame?’

  ‘It’s her desire to take responsibility for the deaths that we have to look at.’

  ‘Yeah, at this point, what I really want to know is why she believes she did it.’

  ‘This case has really got to you, hasn’t it?’

  ‘They all do, one way or another. You know what it’s like, we don’t exactly get to switch off at the end of the day.’

  ‘No, but that’s not all, is it? Iona has got to you.’

  He turned to Rose and shrugged.

  ‘I suppose you’re right.’

  ‘She reminds you of Amy, doesn’t she?’

  ‘No, well … not exactly. They look nothing alike. I suppose it’s her fragility, this place, knowing what it looks like to see someone lose themselves so completely to whatever tricks their mind is playing on them …’ He looked down at his hands.

  ‘You can’t save all the broken girls in the world, you know.’

  ‘That’s not what this is. I just want to do my job. Get the right result.’

  She nodded.

  How could he explain how he felt about Amy and this case? He knew something of what Iona was going through, that sense of fractured reality where what she believed was at odds with the rest of the world. Just like Amy and her issues. His life had been wrecked by Amy’s illness and the break-up. Now he had to put himself back together again and work was all that he had to hang on to.

  Rose looked at him directly. ‘It has to be someone she had built up a relationship with. Someone she trusted. Iona could be the link to the Mulligan case we’ve been looking for.’

  ‘You think she knew the Mulligans? And that one of them did it?’

  ‘Like Joel said, all the previous inquiries into Eden’s disappearance messed Eamonn up. They promised him all sorts of resolution, and all the time it was just raking over the past, making him more and more desperate,’ Rose said.

  ‘I don’t know if I could see him being desperate enough to murder three people though. I could see him doing something, some grand gesture, but this? I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Hypothetically speaking, if one of them did do it, what would the motive be? Revenge? Some sort of vengeance?’

  ‘Maybe. They’re all pretty damaged.’

  ‘I’d say so, but that doesn’t necessarily make them murderers.’

  CHAPTER 49

  ‘Kaitlin can we meet? I need to talk.’ Rose held the phone under her chin while she scanned the document on the screen in front of her. Searching the database for Evelyn hadn’t been easy. She didn’t have the necessary security clearance that Danny had, and she didn’t want to alert him to her search just yet. Still, she was able to put Evelyn’s name and date of birth into the computer to see what it would throw up.

  Rose could hardly believe what she was reading: Classified Information. Access denied. Whatever Evelyn had been involved in was protected under security protocols. She knew information of this nature was sensitive and could be potentially explosive. Discovering her mother’s name being protected in this way meant it was much worse than she’d imagined. She had expected to uncover something, but seeing Evelyn’s name protected as classified was gut wrenching. Whatever she had done, it was murky.

  She’d arranged to meet Kaitlin in a café off Dublin Road. It was dark and dingy, not at all like most of the swanky sandwich places dotted all over that part of the city.

  ‘What’s the emergency?’ Kait said as she approached Rose and slid into the booth.

  ‘No emergency, I just wanted to talk. We should order something first.’

  They both studied the menu and placed their orders.

  Kaitlin looked at her expectantly. ‘Well, what is it?’

  ‘Ma. I want to know what you know.’

  ‘There’s nothing to tell. You knew her as well as I did. Just because I stayed and you moved away doesn’t give me some great insight into her. She was a creature of habit. Liked to keep the house just so. Didn’t go out much towards the end.’

  ‘That’s not what I mean and you know it.’ Her words sounded sharper than she’d intended.

  ‘Roisin, the past is better off left alone. Why are you raking over old ashes?’

  Rose shrugged. ‘It’s my job to rake over them. I’m working on the Mulligan case and I can’t ignore the fact that we lived in the same area as Eden Mulligan. If Evelyn was involved, I need to know.’

  ‘No, you don’t. She’s dead and she isn’t coming back, so any idea you have of retribution and justice has gone with her.’

  ‘The Mulligan children need answers.’

  ‘Why would you think our mum had anything to do with that? Have you found something that would suggest as much?’

  ‘No, but that’s beside the point.’

  Kaitlin sighed. ‘Listen to yourself. It’s ridiculous! Plenty of people supported the republican movement. Our mother carried the grief for our father and sure, it turned her bitter and hard, but that doesn’t mean to say we need to know the ins and outs of her life.’

  ‘I remember the calls in the night. The times she would go off on some unexplained errand. Are you telling me that’s not suspicious?’

  ‘Who knows. Maybe she was having an affair.’

  The sandwiches arrived, and they began eating. ‘Would Pearse know anything?’

  ‘No, and don’t go there. He’s a header, in case you hadn’t noticed. He doesn’t approve of you working for the police. It’s best you keep your distance.’

  ‘Another hardliner in the family. That’s all we need.’

  Kaitlin shrugged. ‘People can experience the same life and have different perceptions of what’s right and wrong. You shouldn’t be so quick to judge.’

  Rose finished her sandwich. ‘I better get back to work.’

  She stood and Kaitlin did the same. ‘Stop looking for problems. Let the dead lie in peace. You shouldn’t go looking for trouble.’

  Rose placed a twenty-pound note on the table to cover the bill, kissed her sister on the cheek and headed out into the sunlight.

  Back in the office Rose sought out Danny and found him on the phone. As she was waiting for him to finish, Malachy strode across the room and indicated for him to wind up the conversation.

  ‘What is it?’ Danny said placing the receiver into the telephone base.

  ‘I’ve just been down to the university following up on Iona’s use of their counselling service.’

  ‘Well?’ Rose asked.

  ‘Guess who’s on their books as a part-time counsellor?’

  ‘Who? Come on Mal, don’t leave me hanging,’ Danny said.

  ‘Lizzie Mulligan.’ Malachy looked suitably pleased with himself.

  ‘Christ!’ Danny said, standing up.

  Everything felt as though it was on a knife edge. This was the break they needed to connect the Mulligan family to the murders.

  ‘What do we do now? Send a squad car to pick Lizzie Mulligan up?’ Malachy asked.

  ‘I don’t know if now is the right time to pull Lizzie Mulligan in. It’s the break we need and it’s an interesting connection to Iona, but we need more information,’ Rose said.

  ‘You’re right,’ Danny said. ‘We do more digging.’

  CHAPTER 50

  ‘What would you say to your younger self if you had a chance?’ Danny said, staring into his cold coffee. Rose c
ould see he was morose. The pressure of the case was getting to him. She suspected he was also feeling depressed about his divorce. She’d never met Amy, so even though she knew from Danny she had her problems, Rose’s sympathies lay with him. If Amy knew how miserable he was over their break-up, maybe she would have felt different; fought harder to keep their marriage together. Rose felt a flicker of sadness that she had no one to feel so strongly about her.

  ‘Me? I’d say get a good haircut and don’t let men fuck you over. What about you?’

  ‘I’d say run and don’t ever come back. Don’t join the police and don’t try to understand women.’

  Whatever Amy’s problems were, they were beyond his ability to fix, but it was clear he wasn’t over her or his marriage. He needed to face the fact that it was over instead of holding on to the past.

  ‘Come on, Danny boy. You need to put Amy behind you and get yourself out there.’

  ‘Out where, Rosie?’

  ‘Out on the field, or in the sea, whatever stupid name you want to call it. Out there where you can meet other women and have some fun. Sign up to Tinder or something.’

  ‘Believe me, another woman is the last thing I need. I’ve sworn off you lot for life. Christ, can you imagine if someone in the station got wind of me being on Tinder? I’d never hear the end of it.’

  ‘Catch yourself on, culchie boy. They’re all on it. It’s the only way to hook up these days.’

  He watched her use the wooden stick to swirl around the froth on her coffee.

  ‘So, are you on this here Tinder thing or have you got someone waiting on you back in London?’

  She looked up at him and held his gaze for a second. ‘No, it’s just me.’

  ‘Do you remember when we used to go to that student dive at the end of Slater Street?’

  ‘Oh God, what was it called? Mojo’s, or something.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s the one. We’d always try to get the corner table away from all the regulars. Sort of still feels like that now. Us trying to claim our own corner.’

  ‘You’re still missing Amy. Trying to recreate something from the past to make up for what you think you’re missing in the present.’

  ‘I didn’t realise I was on the couch, Dr Lainey.’

  She looked down. He didn’t want to hear her professional opinion.

  He sat back in the chair. ‘Well, one thing’s for sure, I don’t have time for Tinder – this case is sapping my strength. Have you any idea of the number of officers I’ve pulled in to work overtime? McCausland is having a hissy fit and I’ve sweet eff all to give him.’

  ‘Tell you what, come and have a read through the stuff I’ve gathered on the Mulligan case. You might see something I’ve missed.’

  ‘Rosie, I’ve too much of my own to wade through.’

  ‘Suit yourself. Stop wallowing and do something proactive. Self-pity is not a good look. I know the case is dragging at this stage, but you know the score. Right when you least expect it something will fall into place and you’ll get that buzz. The one that makes you feel indispensable and at the top of your game.’

  ‘Do you promise?’

  ‘Nope. You have to make it happen.’

  She gave him a look that was meant to say: buck yourself up.

  ‘No one said that this job was going to be easy.’

  ‘It isn’t always about the job, you know.’

  She rounded on him. ‘Danny, I know you’ve had a shitty break-up, but come on, it’s over. Move on.’ Knowing Danny as she did, she realised he needed her to be hard on him. Needed to make him think that he had every right to look to the future. His nature meant that he was still harking back, hoping to fix that which was broken.

  ‘You can be a hard bitch at times, Rose Lainey.’ His voice held a hint of mirth.

  ‘Well, sometimes you just have to get over yourself. The world hasn’t ended.’

  ‘Remind me never to cry on your cold shoulder again.’

  She saw that look he used to give her. The one which made her heart race and scare her. The one that made her wish there was a chance of something more between them even though she had promised herself long ago never to go there. She smiled and gave him a playful whack with the back of her hand. ‘Any time, cowboy. You know where to find me for sympathy and tea.’

  His phone buzzed and he took it from his pocket. He read the text.

  ‘What is it?’ Rose asked.

  ‘The dig site has been identified and they are breaking ground tomorrow.’

  CHAPTER 51

  Rose walked across the field towards the dig site, thinking of how her mother’s death was beginning to affect her. She had had another uneasy night, this time punctuated by dreams of visiting her mother’s grave only to find it had been moved. In her dream, she had stood with wilting flowers in her hand, looking for somewhere to place them, knowing that her mother wasn’t in the grave she stood at. When she woke, it was to feel weary and anxious, with a sense of hopelessness, of having no purpose. She resented Evelyn for having such a hold over her.

  She had spent so much of her teen years feeling resentful towards her mother. But it went deeper than normal parental clashes. Everything Evelyn stood for rankled with Rose. They were like opposite arrows on a compass.

  Now Rose was visiting the site where Eden’s remains could be buried. The Commission had acquired information initially suggesting Tyrella beach, in County Down, could possibly be the place of the burial. However, a subsequent, anonymous tip-off to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, had indicated that the search would be better carried out on bogland at Killymoon, in County Tyrone. It was hard to trust any of their information but what choice did they have?

  Rose thought about a school project she had done on Vikings and their burial rites. They had looked at images of prehistoric bodies dug up from Ireland’s peat bogs, buried along with their jewellery, gold headdresses and weapons. Here she was about to look at a scene of excavation to search for Eden.

  As part of the peace process the IRA had undertaken an agreement to release information about people they had ‘disappeared’. Since then, they had admitted to three further cases where people were taken and killed. It was thought that there are probably others. The ICLVR had been created by a treaty between the Irish and British governments, to gather information on the disappeared and to search for the remains of the victims. Their information was supplied by the IRA through intermediaries, often priests, and with the assistance of forensic archaeologists from the University of Bradford. Excavations across the border in the mountains of County Wicklow, the beaches of Co Louth and the bogs of Co Meath and Co Monaghan have been carried out. Rose knew that the digs could take months and involve huge areas.

  The land in front of her looked like it had been scoured, cleared of anything that had previously stood in the way of the mechanical diggers sitting at the side of the plot. Mounds of earth sat like mole hills in formation. Tens of them, row after row. The smaller mechanical diggers were busy removing layers of topsoil, placing it in a mound at the side of the site that had been marked out by a temporary-looking fence made of wooden posts and thick plastic orange string.

  Kevin Wright, one of the team from the university, waved when he saw Rose and she walked towards him, noticing a large map in his hands.

  ‘You found us then?’

  ‘Yes.’ She took a moment to look across the land that surrounded them. ‘This is a big undertaking.’

  ‘Six acres, we’re looking at, and that can’t be done in a day. Here, this is the grid we’re working on.’ He held the map open for Rose to look at.

  ‘As you can see, we’ve divided the site up into twenty blocks. If the information is to be believed we should find remains within the next day or so. This is Marie McPeake. She works with the families and offers support during times like these.’ Marie was tall and thin with thick dark hair to her shoulders. She had an air of someone who oozed empathy.

  ‘Hello
Marie. I’m Dr Rose Lainey, consultant forensic psychologist working with the PSNI. I’ve been working on the Mulligan case.’

  Marie reached out her hand. ‘Hello. Some of the family are coming down later to see the site. God help them. It must be a form of purgatory, living with the knowledge that their mother had been taken from them and murdered. If we find her remains, then at least they can gain some sort of closure. Give her a Christian burial. In my experience of working with families like this, that is all they ask for, to be able to bury their loved ones. And give them peace.’

  Rose nodded. She had enough experience to know that finding the remains wouldn’t change anything much. They would still be left with questions and no sense of justice.

  Kevin stepped forward, his mud-caked boots sinking into the boggy ground. ‘This is Gabriel Logan. He is heading up the forensic side of the dig.’

  Gabriel was tall with swarthy skin and dark curly hair. He had the beginnings of a beard and was wearing a dark-coloured short-sleeved shirt. He was ridiculously good looking, like a brooding Heathcliff, but his green Hunter wellington boots and the camera hanging from his neck made him look like a festival goer who’d made a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of the dig by mistake.

  ‘Hello, Gabriel, I think we’ve spoken on the phone. I’m working on the investigation,’ Rose said.

  ‘Yes, Rose, how are you doing? Some size of excavation site, isn’t it?’ He had a mild Scottish accent, probably from some posh part of Edinburgh.

  She nodded. ‘How is it going so far?’

  ‘Normal field archaeology takes time and patience. This type of dig is so much more complex. We aren’t dealing with pieces of pottery or flint; this is human remains, someone’s loved one, and we have to be mindful to not risk damaging any vital piece of evidence.’

  ‘Not every search proves successful. There’s a lot of disappointment in these types of digs,’ Kevin said.

  ‘I’ve counselled the family to be prepared. Sometimes finding nothing is worse than finding a body,’ Marie said.

  The mood was sombre and Rose could see they were all genuine in their respect. This wasn’t some dig to uncover historical artefacts. Their hope was to find Eden and to put her to rest.