‘Loads of people were out, but we stuck together. Lizzie didn’t even want to go to the nightclub, but I insisted. I’ve been trying to boost her up ever since that prick Matt dumped her. We were there until maybe two o’clock. I think. Taxi dropped me off first, then Lizzie, because she said she’d pay. I’ve heard nothing from her all week, but that’s not unusual because she works in Dublin and commutes on the train. Long days. Sometimes we go out during the week, but not that much.’
‘No texts or WhatsApp messages? Snapchat?’
‘No. Nothing. Like I said, that’s not unusual.’
‘This boyfriend she had. What do you know about him?’ Lottie folded her arms and stared at Carol.
‘Matt? Couldn’t stand him.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘The way he treated her. Leading her up the garden path, my mum said.’
‘You didn’t think he was ever going to put a ring on her finger, then?’
‘Not in a million years. Lizzie might be a step above me, but Matt was a flight of stairs above her. The minute he got his transfer to Germany, he was out of here like Usain Bolt.’
‘So he’s been gone a while?’
‘Almost a year. Why are you asking about Lizzie? She seemed fine on Saturday night, just a bit drunker than usual. What’s happened?’
‘Do you think she was over her relationship with Matt?’
‘Well and truly over him. She hates him with a vengeance.’
‘And Matt? Know where he might be?’
‘Germany?’ Carol shrugged her shoulders.
‘Anyone else Elizabeth might’ve been interested in?’
‘I’d really like to know what this is about.’ Carol folded her arms and stared defiantly.
‘Answer the question, please.’ Lottie stood up like a military commander conducting a court-martial. Her legs had cramped on the low couch.
Carol appeared to shrink into the folds of her dressing gown. ‘I don’t think there’s anyone in Lizzie’s life. The only place she ever goes is her job in Dublin. Talk to her workmates.’
‘We’ll be interviewing them as soon as possible. So far, we know she was at work on Monday and caught the 17.10 train, but apparently she never arrived home. We need you to think where she might have gone Monday evening, and who she might have been with.’
‘She is missing? Oh God. I honestly have no idea. This is so out of character for her. She doesn’t even go into town without telling her mother. You’d think she was twelve the way that woman keeps a rein on her.’
‘Did she hook up with anyone at the nightclub?’ Boyd asked.
Carol shook her head. ‘No. She wasn’t with anyone. Only me.’
‘Your brothers. Were they out Saturday night? Either of them got their eye on Elizabeth?’
‘You must be joking me. Terry is gay, and Jake is only fourteen.’
Lottie rubbed her hands together, feeling the cold in the room. ‘If you think of anything, will you let us know?’
‘I will. Her mother must be out of her mind with worry. Why didn’t she tell me Elizabeth was missing when she rang? I’d call over, only she hates the sight of me.’
‘Now might not be a good time,’ Lottie said. Official confirmation or not, she decided to give Carol the bad news. ‘Carol, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I think you need to know that we found a body this morning. We have reason to believe it is that of Elizabeth.’
‘What? What are you saying?’ The girl jumped up, then collapsed back down into the chair. ‘You can’t be serious. Oh God, you are, aren’t you?’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I can’t believe this. A body? Was it an accident? Where? How … Oh my God, was she murdered?’
‘We’re not sure what happened yet.’
Carol convulsed into sobs. ‘Oh, poor Lizzie. She never hurt anyone in her life.’ More sobs. ‘Where did you find her?’
‘I can’t reveal too much at the moment. But a body was found in Ragmullin Cemetery. Would Elizabeth have any reason to be there on Monday night?’
Carol looked up with red-rimmed eyes. ‘The graveyard? Lizzie never set foot inside those gates since the day of her father’s funeral. She hates the place.’ She seemed to realise what she’d said and corrected herself. ‘Hated the place.’
‘Okay. We have to leave now, but if you think of anything that might help us, please call me.’
Carol took Lottie’s card. She looked so small and feeble, her pale cheeks now flushed with the exertion of crying. Lottie felt like giving her a hug.
‘Are you off sick today? What’s wrong with you? Nothing contagious, I hope?’ She was trying to make light of the situation, but her words fell flat.
More tears flowed and Carol’s knuckles turned white clutching her dressing gown.
‘Hey, I’m sorry.’ Lottie sat on the arm of the chair.
‘I’m pregnant,’ Carol sniffed. ‘My mum and dad don’t know. I did a test. No one knows.’
‘You need to go back to bed,’ Lottie said, ‘and like I said, call me if you think of anything.’ She squeezed the girl’s shoulder in a motherly gesture.
Terry stuck his head around the door. ‘Can I have my stash back?’
‘Not in your lifetime,’ Boyd said, patting his pocket. ‘You should be glad I’m not taking you to the station. Why don’t you do that study you were talking about before we interrupted you?’
‘What study?’ Carol asked.
‘For my Leaving Cert,’ Terry said, his eyes boring two holes into her.
‘Oh … right,’ Carol said, and turned back to Lottie. ‘I’ll see you out.’
At the front door, Carol said, ‘Don’t mind Terry. He’s a grade A liar. I’m not … just in case you think … oh, you know. I told you the truth about Lizzie. I honestly don’t know what happened to her. I feel awful now.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ Lottie said.
She had to find out whose fault it was.
* * *
Upstairs in the bathroom, Carol threw up the little that remained in her stomach. As she gagged and heaved, Terry banged on the door.
‘Have you been smoking my dope? You’ve been in there puking all day.’
‘Fuck off, Terry.’
‘Yeah, well I need to have a piss.’
‘Give me a minute.’
She heard him thumping back down the stairs, banging the wall as he went, and sat back on her haunches. Her best friend Lizzie. Her only friend. Dead. Murdered? She pulled the inspector’s card from her pocket. Should she have told her what Lizzie had said about feeling as though she was being watched by someone on the train last week? Surely that was just Lizzie being Lizzie. Always getting feelings about this and that. But maybe she should have said something.
Putting the card back in her pocket, Carol got up, flushed the toilet and washed her hands. She’d have a think about whether or not to call. First, she needed to put her head on her pillow, and hopefully that would stop the nausea in her stomach.
Fifteen
He walked along O’Connell Street and turned the corner into Talbot Street. Connolly station loomed up in front of him, and as he neared it, he looked up at the black bridge above his head. He felt the vibration of the DART train as it picked up speed heading to Bray, and breathed in deeply, experiencing the sensation of movement. The sensation of the train and its sounds. He closed his eyes, standing there in the middle of the pavement, lost in a world of his youth.
‘You drunk or wha’?’
The man lying in a nearby doorway held out a tattered paper cup. Begging. For drug money? Or a hostel bed for the night? He ignored him and continued towards the station. His mind was filled with expectation for the evening ahead. He was going to do it. Again.
As he waited for the light to turn green to cross the road, he felt a momentary stab of anxiety. Had he been right to leave the woman in the grave? Would her body be discovered? No, surely not. The grave had been open, waiting a burial. And he’d covered her over fully with the clay. He smiled to himself at his ingenuity. Buried in someone else’s grave. He’d have to remember that option as a means of disposing of a body. But that wasn’t about to happen again. She was a loss, a big loss, and now he had to take the other one. She was his last hope. And this time he wouldn’t make the same mistake.
Sixteen
Cafferty’s Bar was quiet when Lottie and Boyd entered shortly after 4.30. They sat in a corner and ordered tea and house special sandwiches. The television was showing a soap. A few men sat at the bar slurping soup, thumbing through the local newspapers, pints of Guinness at hand.
‘After what I witnessed this morning, I hate this damn town. But you know what?’ Lottie said.
‘What?’ Boyd sipped his tea.