The mid-morning sun, casting a blinding light, had tried its best to melt the hoar frost, but in shaded areas the ground was still hazardous. Boyd parked the car inside the gate and they made their way to where Kirby was lounging against the wall of one of the twelve concrete houses. Lynch stood in front of him, fair hair hanging loose beneath a grey beanie. Both of them were obviously trying to keep themselves awake. A small mobile home was parked in the compact yard.

Kirby moved to one side and filled the space between the house and the mobile home. His blue scarf was wrapped like a noose around his neck and his nose was Christmassy red. His bushy hair looked like he’d been hit with a bolt of lightning. A crowd of onlookers huddled on the other side of the site. Women and children in the centre of a circle of angry-looking men. Their hands were shoved warily in their pockets, but Lottie knew they could strike at any time.

She sniffed the frosty air. ‘Tell me about this before I walk into a minefield.’

‘It looks like a domestic,’ Lynch said. ‘But we have to be careful. You know how these situations can be different to how they first appear.’ One eyebrow rose in an arch.

Was there a question there somewhere? Sucking in a draught of cold air, Lottie realised Lynch’s words were a direct reference to a previous investigation. She decided to let it lie.

‘Who lives at this property?’ she asked.

‘Paddy and Bridie McWard,’ Kirby said. ‘They have a little boy, called …’ He turned the page of his notebook.

‘Tommy,’ Lottie said.

‘Bridie’s taken a terrible battering,’ Kirby said. ‘Go in and see for yourself.’

Inside the house, Bridie was sitting on a white leather sofa. She was holding the little boy in her arms, way too tightly, unshed tears flooding her eyes.

‘Jesus, Bridie, are you all right?’ Lottie said, shocked. ‘You need to see a doctor. The hospital or something.’

‘This is your fault,’ Bridie yelled.

Was it ever any other way? Lottie sat down and searched for answers in the young woman’s eyes. ‘Tell me what happened.’

‘I told your two monkeys out there.’

‘I need to hear it for myself. Did Paddy do this to you?’

A purple bruise had swelled on Bridie’s jaw, and dried blood had congealed in her long hair.

‘No, but those two don’t believe me.’ She moaned as she spoke, one hand rubbing her stomach.

The baby began to cry. Lottie thought of Louis, and her heart constricted. Bridie stuck a soother in the little boy’s mouth and rocked him close to her chest, wincing with the movement.

‘Tell me what happened. You know I’ll believe you.’ Lottie took her notebook and pen from her bag. ‘Do you want Boyd there to hold little Tommy while we talk?’

‘You must be joking. No one is taking my baby away.’

‘I was only trying to help,’ Lottie said. ‘You need to clean those wounds up before they get infected.’ She handed her notebook to Boyd, indicating with a nod of her head that he was to take notes.

‘Do you always talk like this?’ Bridie said. ‘First you want my story, then you want my child, and now you want me to wash.’

Smiling a little, Lottie nodded. ‘You’re right. I’m all over the place today. You do what makes you comfortable. When you’re ready, tell me what happened to cause those cuts and bruises.’

‘Well, it wasn’t Paddy, so you can get that notion right out of your head, Missus Detective.’

‘Okay. If it wasn’t Paddy, who was it? And where is Paddy?’

‘There you go again. Two questions.’

‘I’ll shut up and listen.’ Lottie set her mouth in a straight line and willed herself to keep it that way.

‘At last, a bit of silence.’ Bridie rocked Tommy slowly as the child’s eyes closed. ‘Paddy was here last night for a while. He came to bed but only stayed about an hour before he got up again and left. I don’t know where he is, so don’t ask me. Right?’

Lottie nodded.

Bridie went on to relate what had happened. Lottie wondered what had prompted the attack on a defenceless young woman with her baby in the room.

‘Can you describe your assailant?’

‘It was dark, but he was a big fucking monster.’

Lottie waited in silence as sobs broke from Bridie’s throat. She was afraid to utter a word in case the young woman refused to carry on talking.

‘Leather gloves. He was wearing dark leather gloves. Dressed all in black, now that I think of it. And before you ask, I didn’t see his face. Jesus, Paddy will go ballistic when he sees the state of me.’

‘Don’t worry. Detective Kirby will have a word with him.’

‘No one is to talk to Paddy. Not until I do.’

‘Have you contacted him?’

‘I tried his phone. He must be out of range or something.’ Bridie bit her lip as tears slid down her bruised face.

Lottie put out a tentative hand and patted the young woman’s knee. ‘You’re doing fine, Bridie,’ she said soothingly. ‘Can you remember anything else?’

‘That monster hammered the daylights out of me. Kicked me in the stomach. Hit my head with something hard. I could feel the blood flowing. And the pain. God in heaven, it was worse than when I was giving birth to Tommy. Well, maybe not worse. As bad as.’

‘Can you remember if he said anything?’

Sniffing now, Bridie said, ‘That was the worst thing. He grabbed my hair and twisted it, and said, “Stay away from the guards and the graveyard, if you don’t want to end up six feet under like the other one.” Oh God.’

Lottie glanced at Boyd. ‘What can you recall after he said that?’

‘I passed out. I woke up to Tommy screaming in his cot. And every inch of me screaming in pain along with him.’

‘Tommy wasn’t harmed, though?’

Bridie shook her head. ‘He’s okay.’ She stared into Lottie’s eyes, pleading, ‘What did he mean? Was it because I told you about the banshee? Something to do with that woman being murdered over there?’

Lottie thought for a moment. Was that the reason Bridie had been attacked? It seemed a little far-fetched. She decided to be honest. ‘I don’t know, but I’ll get the SOCOs in here to see if your assailant left behind any DNA.’

‘What’s a SOCO?’

‘Scene of crime officer.’

‘Like the CSI crowd on the telly?’

‘Something like that,’ Lottie said. She nodded at Boyd to make the call.

‘They better not leave a mess. It’s taken me two hours to wash the floor in the bedroom.’

‘You what?’ Boyd exclaimed before Lottie could stop him.

Tommy opened his mouth and the soother fell out. He began to roar.

‘Now see what you did.’ Bridie glared. ‘Of course I washed the floor. I couldn’t be walking around sticking to all that blood. And there’s someone coming to fix the door in a few minutes.’

‘Leave it for now,’ Lottie said. ‘Our people will have a look at it. And don’t worry, there’ll be a uniformed officer here to keep an eye on you until Paddy returns. Can I have his number?’

‘No, you can’t. I wouldn’t have said anything at all, only those two out there were hanging around here for the last few weeks and I knew they were pigs. She even gave me one of those card things with her number. I was going to say nothing to nobody, but sure I was so stressed, I rang her and told her everything before I realised what I was doing.’

‘You really need stitches,’ Lottie said, noticing fresh blood bubbling through Bridie’s hair.

‘I’ll be grand. I’ve got plasters somewhere.’

‘Can I call someone to come and sit with you?’

‘I’m well able to look after myself, thank you very much.’

The irony was lost on Bridie, and Lottie felt a wave of sympathy for the young woman settle in her chest. She took out one of her own cards.

‘This is my number. Call me if you remember anything else. Even the smallest detail might be important.’

Bridie took the card. ‘I’m warning you lot here and now, my Paddy won’t let this pass without blood being spilled. Mark my words.’

---

After directing the SOCOs into Bridie’s house, Lottie instructed Kirby to send the two vans of gardaí who had arrived while they’d been inside back to the station.

‘Did you call the riot squad too?’ she said drily.

‘No, but something like this has the potential to explode.’

‘Let’s hope not. No need to attract extra attention to Bridie. Locate Paddy McWard and find out where he’s been and what he’s been up to. Okay?’

‘Will do.’

She noticed the houses and caravans all had cameras attached to their outside walls. ‘And see if the residents will give you access to their CCTV tapes. There are more cameras here than in all of Ragmullin.’

‘Probably just dummies,’ Kirby offered.

‘Check them out. And it’s very quiet around here. Have you scared everyone away?’

‘Not my fault.’ Kirby slapped a chunky cigar into his mouth without lighting it.

Lowering her voice, Lottie said, ‘What’s up with Lynch?’

Kirby glanced over her shoulder. Lottie turned, following his gaze. Lynch was walking in small, slow circles with her phone tight to her ear.

‘Trouble at home, I think. She hasn’t said anything to me, but she’s calling her husband every time I turn my back.’

Lottie waited for Boyd to unlock the car. She listened as a train shunted along the tracks on the embankment beyond the cemetery.

‘I’m thinking this was probably the work of Elizabeth’s killer. Trying to warn Bridie against talking to us,’ she said, sitting into the car.

‘But she’d already spoken with you,’ Boyd said.

‘Maybe she saw or heard something else. Something she hasn’t told us.’

‘I think it’s more likely to be related to her own community.’

‘We’ll see. What do you know about Lynch’s husband?’

‘Not a lot, why?’ he said, turning out onto the main road.

‘Just fishing.’ Lottie tugged the sleeves of her T-shirt down over her cold hands.

‘New hobby?’

‘Drive the bloody car.’

‘Where to?’

‘Wherever we can find Carol O’Grady.’