Buried Angels

by Patricia Gibney

  ‘Honestly, I’ve no idea what you mean.’

  ‘Honestly?’

  ‘Yeah. Well, I mean, I saw stuff online, you know, about the body at the railway. Found in the boot of a car.’

  ‘Oh, and how did you know it was a woman?’

  ‘I didn’t.’

  ‘You told Karen it was a woman.’

  ‘Karen? What has she got to do with this?’

  ‘You went to visit her. Before we officially released news that the body was female.’

  ‘So what? It was probably on Twitter. Everyone knew it. There was even a video of you and the guards at the railway station rolling out crime-scene tape.’

  Shit! There was no way to control social media accounts. Now that she thought about it, it was possible the information had been out there before it was officially released. All the same, she wanted to grill him a bit further. He was sweating, but so was she in the small windowless office.

  ‘Why did you visit Karen?’

  ‘She’s my work colleague. I called round to see how she was.’

  ‘To get information from her after you saw the videos online, is that it?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Why were you interested in it?’

  ‘Just curiosity.’ He blinked rapidly, loosened his tie and undid his top button. ‘I wanted to make sure Karen was okay.’

  ‘How did you know she was involved?’

  ‘Er … I’m not sure. She had the day off so I might have seen it online. Or maybe the boss mentioned it. I can’t remember.’

  ‘Try.’

  ‘I’ve done nothing wrong. Why are you interrogating me?’

  She laughed. ‘Jesus, Kevin, you don’t want to see me really interrogating you. This is like stroking a puppy compared to what I’m like in an interview room.’

  He seemed to believe her, because the sweat was visibly blistering on his forehead. Kevin O’Keeffe had to be hiding something. He seemed very uneasy.

  ‘Is something scaring you, Kevin?’

  ‘Why would you think that?’

  ‘Our children are friends. We’ve known each other for the last year through them.’ Lottie considered this. She didn’t really know much about the O’Keeffes, just that Ruby popped into her house from time to time and Sean went to Ruby’s. Gaming. ‘Tell me, why did you really visit Karen?’

  ‘I was concerned about her. My manager, Shane Courtney, he was worried about a claim. We insured the car.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’

  ‘It’s the truth.’

  ‘How did you know it was a woman’s body?’

  ‘I … I can’t recall.’

  Lottie dropped her arms and launched herself across the room. She moved so quickly and slapped the table so hard that Kevin propelled himself against the wall behind him, the wheels of the chair snagging in the carpet tiles.

  ‘Look, Lottie,’ he said. ‘I saw a tweet. It showed Karen in a group of people. The guards were just arriving to put up the tape. I think a comment under the tweet said it was a woman’s body. That’s the truth.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’ How many times had she said it now? He was lying through his teeth. ‘I can check Twitter.’

  ‘You can but it might have been removed.’

  ‘Convenient.’

  ‘Not really, because if it’s no longer there, I can’t back up my story.’

  ‘Some story.’

  ‘I’ve no reason to lie.’

  ‘You must have a reason, because that’s what you’re doing. Lying.’ She stepped back and opened the door. ‘Our children may be friends, Kevin, but that doesn’t mean we have to be. I’ll be back.’

  Saturated with fear, Aaron Frost could not get his heart to calm down. He’d gone back to the office, but had seen a woman talking to Dave inside. He just couldn’t face speaking to a client. Not now. Not today. He’d gone home to his mother, and the smell of bacon and cabbage cooking on the stove had made him nauseous. He had to leave, despite her protests. Go for a walk or a run, anything rather than sit the fuck at home listening to his mother complaining about how it was high time he had a woman in his life.

  He leaned his elbows on the canal bridge, the opposite end of town to where the body parts had been found, and stared at the unmoving water below. He thought he felt a hand on his shoulder. His imagination was in overdrive, but still he swivelled around on the heel of his shoe to check.

  There was a hand on his shoulder.

  And someone was standing so close he was unable to move.

  He heard the traffic hum louder as it sped up when the lights on the bridge turned green.

  ‘We need to talk.’

  He knew he had no choice in the matter. The tremble in his voice betrayed his fear. ‘Okay. Talk.’

  ‘Not here, you dumb fuck. Follow me. My car is down there. Outside the Indian restaurant.’

  ‘We can talk here or nowhere,’ Aaron said, trying hard to be brave.

  ‘You are in no position to argue. Now come on.’

  He followed. What else could he do? He’d done all he’d been asked. Had he made a mistake and now he was being made to pay for it? He only hoped he didn’t end up dismembered and thrown like carrion on the railway tracks or weighted down in a sack of stones in the canal. Or even stabbed and then abandoned in the boot of a car. He shivered uncontrollably as he got into the vehicle.

  When the engine was running and the indicator on, Aaron put his hand on the door handle. ‘You don’t have to drive anywhere. I don’t think you’re on double yellows and its past the time for a parking ticket. We can talk here. I’ve no idea what—’

  ‘We need a little peace and quiet. I know the perfect place. Shut up and let me concentrate.’ The car swung out, headed for the bridge. ‘You can take your hand off the door. It’s locked.’

  Aaron silently fastened his seat belt. He stared straight ahead, watching the dipping sun. He hoped the driver would be silent, but that hope was cut short.

  ‘You have to tell me who else knows.’

  ‘I told no one. I swear to God.’

  ‘That’s a lie.’

  He could see the hardening of the jaw. The narrowing of the eyes. The driver was angry. The lights turned from green to red, but the car sped through.

  ‘It’s not a lie. I never told another living soul.’ He twisted his hands, interlocking his fingers. They were so sweaty he found he couldn’t disentangle them.

  ‘We’ll see how long you hold onto that lie once I get going.’

  Though he was thirty-five years old, Aaron Frost began to cry.

  Forty-Two

  Instead of going home, Lottie returned to the office and planted her feet on a box file that had sat for months under her desk. She could not prove that Kevin O’Keeffe was lying. She couldn’t find the tweet he’d referred to and she’d been unable to contact his boss, Shane Courtney. Did everyone other than her switch off their phone the minute they walked out of their office? She’d have to follow it up tomorrow. And there had been no answer from Aaron Frost’s phone either. He wasn’t at home when uniforms had called to the house where he lived with his mother. She’d have to catch up with him later, or in the morning.

  She glanced up to see Kirby standing at her door.

  ‘You need to go home,’ he said.

  ‘We need to find him.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Aaron Frost.’ She explained the situation, then said, ‘Dave Murphy is only a minion in the office, but check him out just in case. Mr Ferris is on holidays, so Aaron is the only one we know of so far who could have got the keys to Faye and Jeff’s apartment. At the very least I want to eliminate him and move on.’

  ‘Okay. Want me to put an alert out on him?’

  ‘Yeah, do that. Thanks, Kirby.’

  McKeown stuck his head around the door. ‘No record of a passport having been issued for Polly or Pauline Cole in the right age group. Maybe she changed her name or left without a passport.’

  ‘Thank
s, McKeown. I don’t think she ever got a chance to leave. Something happened to her in that house. We need confirmation from Jane, but I think the body is more than likely that of little Polly. In the meantime, do what you can to find out if the girl is still alive or if anyone knows what happened to her. For now, Polly Cole is missing.’

  Her mobile rang and skittered across the desk with the vibration. It was her half-brother ringing from New York. She waved McKeown and Kirby out of the office and answered the call.

  ‘Hello, Leo.’

  ‘Lottie, good to hear your voice. How are the girls and Sean?’

  ‘Doing good.’

  ‘And the little man?’

  She knew he was building up to something and her gut wrung in a knot, warning her it was not going to be good news. ‘Louis is fine. All okay with you?’

  ‘Yeah, good, good. I met with Tom Rickard when your girls were over here at Christmas.’

  Lottie closed her eyes and scrunched up her mouth. She knew what was coming. Tom Rickard, with his developer hat on, had talked Leo out of the deal with her over their inheritance, Farranstown House.

  ‘What’s up, Leo?’

  ‘We’ve met up a couple of times since and he tells me there’s no way I’ll get planning permission to develop the land around the house. It backs onto the town’s drinking water source, Lough Cullion. I didn’t know it was a town supply and it makes the land virtually worthless.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Do you? I thought it could be worth up to ten million dollars as development land. That’s why I made you such a generous offer.’

  She wanted to strangle Tom Rickard. And she would have, if he wasn’t Louis’ grandfather. ‘It’s okay if you want to pull out. I really don’t have the energy to argue with you. Not right now, anyhow.’

  ‘I’m not saying I’m going to do the dirty on you. I’m not like my mother. Alexis was ruthless, but you’re the closest living relative I’ve got. I want to help you.’

  She wanted to tell him to fuck off. But she stayed silent.

  ‘I can’t pay you what I promised, but I am willing to sign the house and land over to you. I’ve more than enough from my mother’s estate and my NYPD salary. You can have Farranstown. Who knows, in time it might be worth a hell of a lot more than it is now.’

  ‘Have you fallen and bumped your head, Leo?’

  ‘Do you want me to sign it over to you or not?’

  Lottie thought it was a generous offer, but one with plenty of drawbacks. She’d have preferred the money up front, like he’d promised. ‘Property taxes alone will be more than my salary.’

  ‘Why don’t you speak to Tom?’

  ‘Tom is an arsehole.’

  ‘No need to be so pig-headed. See, I’ve picked up your colloquialisms. Honestly, Tom would like to talk to you.’

  ‘Well I don’t want to talk to him.’

  ‘I think he has a soft spot for you,’ Leo laughed.

  ‘I have to go.’ She hung up.

  Forty-Three

  Before the front door even opened, Marianne knew Kevin was in a roaring bad mood. The jangle of keys in his hand. The rattle of the wrong one in the door. The thud of the bunch hitting the step. The invective that followed was loud enough to pierce through the glass and timber.

  She closed her laptop quickly, secreted it in the desk drawer but didn’t lock it. There was nothing like a locked drawer to infuriate her husband. She’d put it in the box under her bed later.

  She rushed to the kitchen, folded her arms and stood upright against the cold counter. She was not going to allow him to intimidate her. Not again.

  ‘What are you looking at?’ he said when he eventually got the door open and almost fell through it, such was his temper.

  ‘Dinner’s ready.’ Ages ago, she added silently, and turned to tap the microwave’s digital display.

  Having divested himself of his suit jacket, he rolled up his shirtsleeves and took a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. When he slammed the door shut, Marianne heard something inside clatter and fall.

  She couldn’t help her eyes travelling to the monster-sized clock hanging over the dining table. But she stemmed the words that were in danger of flying from her mouth. If he’d come home on time, his dinner would not need reheating. She waited patiently for the ping, then put the plate in front of him. She knew he was about to launch into a tirade, but she was saved by Ruby bursting through the back door, followed by Sean.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Kevin said, stabbing a slice of bacon with a fork.

  ‘Out with Sean.’

  The fork dropped and Kevin reached out, grabbing his daughter by the arm before she could escape. ‘You’ve been smoking!’

  Not a question. An accusation.

  Marianne groaned silently and noticed Sean slide into the background. ‘You know the rules, Ruby,’ she said, trying to defuse the row that would surely follow. ‘Sean, I think you should go home.’

  ‘Ruby?’ Sean said.

  The girl twisted out of her father’s grip, took the pods from her ears and rolled them round in her hand. ‘I think it’s best. I’ll chat you later.’

  Sean left. Marianne thought that would be that, but Ruby wasn’t finished. She rounded on her father.

  ‘I wasn’t smoking. Some of the others were. The smell just sticks to your clothes, you know.’

  ‘I don’t know. Enlighten me,’ Kevin said.

  ‘Your dinner’s getting cold,’ Marianne intervened.

  ‘It’s cold anyway,’ Kevin said. ‘Disgusting food.’

  ‘I’m going to my room. I ate with my friends.’ Ruby fled towards the door, but Kevin put out a foot and his daughter stumbled.

  ‘Not so fast. What friends? I don’t want you hanging around with gobshites that smoke. Nor that Parker boy. He’s trouble. His mother is trouble. You hear me?’

  ‘I hear you. Can I go now?’

  ‘No, you bloody cannot. Sit down. I want to talk to you.’

  ‘I’ve homework to do. A project. It will take me ages.’

  ‘Thought you were on your holidays at the end of the week.’

  Kevin was bubbling up to something and Marianne warned Ruby with her eyes, but the girl was past caring. She could see it in the shape of her shoulders.

  ‘So what? I still have to go to school. Still have to do my poxy homework.’

  Kevin’s hand caught Ruby’s arm again and he twisted it up behind her. ‘Don’t answer me back!’

  ‘Kevin!’ Marianne screamed, catching his hand. She shoved her daughter out to the hall and heard her footsteps thump up the stairs. Kevin could do what he liked to her between their four walls, but she would not allow him to hurt Ruby. She turned to face him. His smirk was grotesque. He was holding the plate in his hand.

  ‘I have to go back to work later on. This food is freezing. Heat it up for me again.’

  The words she wanted to shout died on her tongue and she took the plate and put it back in the microwave.

  Well, she was going out too.

  Like a good little lady, she thought.

  If he only knew.

  Her knuckles turned white.

  If he only knew.

  Lisa watched Charlie pace an angry circle around Jack. He looked like her late father, who had been a sergeant major in the army.

  ‘Leave him alone, Charlie.’

  ‘I asked him a question. I want an answer. That’s all. Come on, Jack. Please. Tell me.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Jack’s eyes flitted to Lisa, his hands sucking the life out of each other as he wrapped them in knots.

  ‘Did you see Tamara Robinson’s Instagram post?’ Charlie said.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, your mother and I saw it. Tamara says you and Gavin have been filming the canal and tracks for over a week. Is that right?’

  ‘That’s enough,’ Lisa said.

  Charlie swung around and glared, then resumed his pacing. ‘Tell me, Jack.’

 
; ‘I … I don’t know where Gavin got that idea. He doesn’t even own a drone.’

  ‘Yeah, but you do.’

  ‘What is it you want to know, Charlie?’ Lisa said.

  ‘I want to know what Jack has been up to,’ he replied quietly. ‘What if whoever dumped that body saw him? What if they come after him? After Tyrone or Maggie? I’m trying to protect this family as best I can. I need to know what he was doing.’

  ‘Leave him be. Maybe I can find out,’ Lisa said as she placed Maggie at the table beside Tyrone, with a bowl of Coco Pops to keep her quiet.

  ‘I’ll handle it,’ Charlie said with an edge to his voice.

  She recoiled. The void between them was growing deeper by the day.

  Charlie pressed his hand into Jack’s shoulder. ‘Look at me, Jack, and tell me what you’ve been up to with the drone.’

  ‘Dad!’ Jack squealed. ‘You’re hurting me.’

  ‘For feck’s sake, Charlie, stop it this instant!’

  Maggie dropped the bowl of Coco Pops on the floor and shrieked loudly.

  ‘This is a madhouse,’ Charlie said, giving Jack a sharp push before storming out of the kitchen.

  Lisa rushed to her son and hugged him, oblivious to Maggie howling to get down from the chair.

  ‘What’s Dad on about?’ Jack said, his bottom lip quivering.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘He’s so angry all the time. Why?’

  ‘His health isn’t great. He can’t work at the moment, so he’s going a little crazy in the house all day. Give him space.’

  ‘Why can’t you tell me what’s really wrong with him?’

  She wanted to, she really did, but Charlie had insisted the boys were not to know until it was absolutely necessary. ‘All I can tell you is that he’s having a lot of blood tests done at the hospital. We can’t say anything more until we know for sure. We don’t want you to worry unnecessarily.’

  Jack whimpered, and Lisa bit back a cry when she saw the tears in her son’s eyes before he wiped them away.

  Maggie was eating Coco Pops from the floor. Tyrone was grinning at the table.