by Val Collins
‘What the hell!’
This was a much older photo. Blaine was about thirteen. He and Conor were standing on a beach. Conor had his arm around Blaine and they both smiled into the camera. Beside them, standing so close to Conor that they almost touched and wearing a bikini that left very little to the imagination, was Lisa.
THIRTY-FIVE
‘Lisa! What was Lisa doing on a beach with Conor and Blaine?’
‘I have no idea. Lisa mentioned that she had been living with a guy, but it never even occurred to me that it was Conor. She always referred to him as Detective Moloney. Do you think that means something? I always call him Conor. Wouldn’t it have been natural for her to start calling him Conor too? Now that I think about it—’
‘What?’
‘Maybe I’m being stupid, Orla, but I remember the very first time I saw Lisa in the restaurant, my immediate impression was that they had a personal relationship.’
‘Why did you think that?’
‘It was the way she spoke to him. All I caught was “not answering my calls” and “what do I have to do to get”. I assumed she said “what do I have to do to get your attention” or “what do I have to do to get you to return my calls”.’
‘She could have said either of those things, but it wouldn’t necessarily mean they were a couple.’
‘I know. Later, after Lisa spoke to me, I asked Conor about the case. He didn’t want to talk about it. Then he got a text message on his phone. I remember him frowning at it. Then he said okay, he’d fill me in on the background. What if that text was a message from Lisa? What if she said she would tell me they had been a couple if Conor didn’t let me help her?’
‘But why wouldn’t Conor want you to know Lisa was his ex? You said Blaine was about thirteen in the photo. You hadn’t even met Conor then.’
‘The photo was taken about two years ago, but Lisa broke up with her ex a few months before Shane and his family were murdered. Conor was pressurising me to get engaged then. Surely he wasn’t double-timing me?’
‘You’re going to have to talk to Blaine. If Lisa and Conor were an item, Blaine must know all about it.’
*
Aoife left Amy with her grandmother and drove to Dublin. She parked outside Conor’s house until Blaine returned from GAA camp.
‘Hi, Blaine,’ she called as he was opening the front door.
Blaine turned. Aoife felt a stab of pity when she saw the purple and black bruises that covered his face. His expression was wary and something else. Did she see fear? Why would Blaine be afraid of her?
‘You left this in my house the night we were attacked.’
Blaine took the iPad. ‘Thanks.’
‘Can I come in?’
‘Dad’s at work.’
‘I know. I’d like to speak to you.’
‘What! Why?’
‘There’s no need to look so worried. I just wanted to ask you about a photo.’
‘A photo!’
‘It will only take a minute.’
Blaine opened the door and went straight upstairs. She heard the bathroom door shut. A few minutes later the loo flushed, she heard running water and he was downstairs again.
‘Blaine, Amy found your iPad. When I took it from her, she was looking at your photos. There was one of you and your dad on the beach with a woman.’
Blaine shrugged.
‘Who is the woman, Blaine?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know what photo you’re talking about.’
‘Can I show it to you?’
Blaine handed her the iPad. Aoife flicked through the photos.
The photo of Lisa was no longer there.
*
‘Blaine, why did you delete the photo?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t delete anything.’
‘When I handed you the iPad, there was a photo of you, your dad and a woman on the beach. It isn’t there now. Where did it go?’
Blaine shrugged.
‘Blaine, did you know Lisa?’
‘Who’s Lisa?’
Aoife took out her phone and brought up a newspaper article about the bad luck that followed the Grogan family. She showed the photo to Blaine.
‘Do you know her?’
Blaine nodded.
‘How do you know her?’
‘She came to your house a while back and asked me where you worked.’
‘Had you ever seen her before then?’
Blaine shook his head.
‘So why did you have a photo of her on the beach with you and your dad?’
‘I didn’t. Why would I want a photo of that woman? I have to go out now. My friends are waiting for me.’
*
If Orla was free, she and Aoife met up whenever Aoife was in Dublin. Aoife was reluctant to meet her today. She was uncomfortable displaying her bruised face to strangers, but she needed to discuss her worries. Fallon & Byrne was out of the question. Too many people there knew them. Until her face was back to normal, Aoife wanted anonymity. They arranged to meet in the food hall in the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. Aoife went to the noodle stand and got her favourite meal of rice noodles with prawns and peanuts, topped with sesame seeds. She took the tray upstairs and chose a window seat. She was looking down at the Luas, wondering about the lives of its passengers, when Orla joined her.
*
Once Orla had recovered from the shock of seeing her friend’s battered face, Aoife told her about her encounter with Blaine.
‘He denied ever seeing it?’
‘Yep.’
‘What are you going to do now?’
‘I don’t know. Ask Conor, I imagine.’
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’
‘Why not?’
‘Think about it. Conor must have known Lisa, yet he kept that a secret from you. Why?’
‘That’s what I intend to find out.’
‘And what if you find out that Conor has been lying to you all this time? He double-timed you with Lisa. He dumped you the minute Katie arrived in town and now his ex-girlfriend is dead.’
‘We don’t know if any of that is true, Orla.’
‘We know Blaine wants to split up you and Conor. Agreed?’
Aoife nodded.
‘The photo of Conor and Lisa would be the perfect weapon. All he has to do is tell you Conor and Lisa were an item, but he doesn’t. Why not?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘He doesn’t say anything because he’s afraid. You said yourself that you saw fear in his eyes. Blaine’s scared Conor was involved in Lisa’s death.’
‘No, he isn’t. Even if Conor was two-timing me, why would he want Lisa dead?’
‘I have no idea, but I never met Lisa and I don’t know Conor very well.’
‘I know Conor extremely well and I’m telling you he didn’t have anything to do with Lisa’s death.’
‘You’ve only known him a little over a year, Aoife. Blaine’s known him a hell of a lot longer and he’s worried enough to delete that photo.’
‘Maybe Blaine deleted the photo to annoy me. He hid my stuff, now he’s hiding his own stuff from me.’
‘No. Blaine was annoying you in the hope that you and Conor would argue. The photo is much more likely to cause an argument, yet he hides it.’
‘What exactly are you trying to say, Orla?’
‘I’m saying it’s possible you don’t know Conor as well as you think you do. It’s even possible he’s violent.’
‘That’s nonsense. How could you say such a thing? I thought you liked Conor.’
‘I did like him. But I’ve been wrong about men before. So have you.’
‘Conor would never hurt anybody.’
‘How sure are you of that?’
‘One hundred percent.’
‘Like you were one hundred percent certain that Jason was the perfect husband?’
THIRTY-SIX
‘Don’t compare Conor to Jason. They’
re almost a different species, Orla.’
‘Are you sure? You have a habit of only seeing the good in people you love. I tried to warn you about Jason when we were in college, remember? You didn’t want to know then either.’
‘I don’t remember you saying anything about Jason.’
‘That’s because you weren’t listening. I told you he was cutting you off from all your friends and you’d be better off without him. You couldn’t see what was in front of your face then either.’
‘That was completely different. I was a kid who’d just lost both her parents. I needed something to cling to, and Jason took advantage of that. I’m an adult now.’
‘Lots of adults fall in love with the wrong men.’
‘Conor isn’t the wrong man, Orla. I’m certain of it.’
*
But was she certain? Feeling like a complete traitor, Aoife decided to visit Lisa’s uncle. The receptionist was gone, but several employees were still milling around. Aoife ignored their shocked expressions and went straight to Eamonn’s office. She knocked at the door.
‘Come in.’
Eamonn paled at the sight of Aoife’s swollen and bruised face. ‘I’m sorry.’ He got up and pulled out a chair for her. ‘I can’t believe Keith did that. I don’t know what came over him. Did you come here because I paid his bail?’
‘He’s out on bail?’
‘I had to pay it, Aoife. He’s my son. But I swear you have nothing to worry about. I told Keith he will have to find another job if he goes within ten miles of you.’
‘I need your help, Eamonn.’
‘Anything.’
‘Do you have photos of Lisa’s ex?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know what he looked like?’
‘She brought him to a family wedding, but I didn’t pay much attention.’
Aoife took out her phone and held up a photo of Conor. As Lisa’s murder had been deemed a mugging, the investigation was being handled by the local police station. Aoife knew Eamonn had spoken to Conor, but she was pretty sure they’d never met. In any case, Conor looked quite different in jeans and a T-shirt and without his hair gelled back.
‘Is this him?’
Eamonn examined the photo.
‘I don’t know. He’s the right age and about the right height and the hair is the same colour, but I don’t remember his features. Like I said, there were a lot of people at the wedding. I barely glanced at him.’
‘Can you give me the number of any of Lisa’s friends?’
‘I don’t have a clue who her friends were. Her mother would know, of course, but I can’t upset her now. She’s barely surviving as it is.’
‘No, of course not. How about her work colleagues? Where did Lisa work?’
‘I’ve definitely heard her mention the name of the company, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head. I know they went into liquidation a few months ago.’
‘And I don’t suppose you know the name of any of her work colleagues.’
‘I’m sorry, Aoife. Keith and Lisa never got on. She stayed away from my family as much as possible. We met at weddings and funerals. That was about it.’
*
Before going to bed, Aoife searched the web for a Facebook or Instagram profile belonging to Lisa. She found several Lisa Grogans. A surprising number of them lived in New Zealand. None were the Lisa she wanted. As many of Aoife’s friends had profiles under their Irish names, Aoife did another search. She found Lisa O Grugain and Lisa Ni Ghrugain. They were all strangers.
Aoife slept badly. She was due back at work the following day and her face was still a mess. What was she going to tell people when they asked what had happened to her? Nobody at her office job knew she was a freelance reporter, and she preferred to keep her two lives separate. But if she didn’t tell them, how could she explain her appearance? Aoife could have saved herself the worry. Her colleagues noticed her bruised and swollen face, their eyes widened and they immediately looked away. Nobody asked what happened to her. The realisation that they assumed her partner was beating her up came as a shock. It was an even greater shock that not one person asked if she was alright.
*
After work, Aoife collected Amy and dropped her at her grandmother’s. Conor had agreed to meet her when his shift ended and she was going to ask him straight out about the photo. They were having dinner at 8 p.m., so she had a few hours to spare. She washed her hair and tried on a few outfits. Why was she bothering? It’s unlikely there was a correct way to dress to ask your partner if he had double-timed you.
One of the advantages of long, straight hair was there was never any need to blow-dry it. Aoife threw on a pair of jeans and a top and headed for her office. Her hand was out to pull back the latch when she saw it wasn’t fully drawn across. That was weird. She always pushed it fully across and then checked that it was shut. It was a habit she had developed after Amy, aged two, had spilled juice all over her keyboard. Aoife had been working in the office the previous evening and left her charger there. She had gone in that morning and collected it. Maybe she hadn’t bolted it properly in the rush. Aoife opened the door and peeked inside. At first glance, everything seemed untouched, but as she got closer, she noticed her solar-powered keyboard was switched on. It had died on her once, and she’d spent the following day trying to type whilst aiming the keyboard at the sun. Ever since, she had been meticulous about switching it off. Blaine had definitely been here. Who else would break into her house and take nothing? Aoife dialled Conor’s mobile.
‘Hi.’
‘Hi, things are a bit hectic here, but I promise I’ll be at the restaurant at eight on the dot.’
‘Great. Conor, I hate to say this, especially after everything he did for me, but I think Blaine was in my house today.’
‘What?’
‘The latch to the door in my office wasn’t fully drawn across and my keyboard was switched on. I never leave my keyboard on.’
‘Aoife, I don’t believe you! Blaine risked his life to save you and you accuse him of breaking into your house. How would he even get to Kildare?’
‘He could have taken the train.’
‘This is ridiculous, Aoife, and it’s got to stop. You forgot to turn off your keyboard and you immediately blame my son. My son who could have been seriously injured trying to save you. How you could say—I don’t know, Aoife. I really don’t know what’s wrong with you.’
‘Conor, please listen to me. I don’t want to accuse Blaine, but there’s nobody else who could have done this.’
‘You did it, Aoife. You’re absent-minded. That’s it. Stop blaming other people for your mistakes.’
‘I know you don’t want to believe it, Conor, but Blaine was in my house today. I’m certain of it.’
‘I put Blaine on a flight to England last night. He was in his mother’s house when I phoned this morning. Let’s forget about dinner, Aoife. I’ve lost my appetite. Goodbye.’
Goodbye? As in goodbye forever?
‘Conor?’
The line was dead.
*
Aoife phoned Orla, but she didn’t pick up. If Blaine hadn’t been in her house, then who had? She’d changed the locks after Jason had left. Could he have got a hold of her new key? If he’d been in the area, he would have called to his mother. Aoife rang Maura.
‘Hi, Maura, Conor’s cancelled on me, so I’ll come by and pick up Amy shortly.’
‘Oh, don’t do that, Aoife. I promised Amy we’d bake a cake and she’s very excited at the idea of bringing you home something nice. Why not leave her here for a few hours? I’m sure you could do with some time to yourself.’
‘Okay, if you’re certain you don’t mind. Maybe Jason could join you for a while. Amy was upset she missed his last visit.’
‘I know. The poor little kid. I’m so sorry. That was entirely my fault. I was getting over a bug. I thought I’d be better by Saturday, but it was Sunday afternoon before I could drag myself out of bed. To b
e honest, I thought it would be a good opportunity for Jason to discover he could manage Amy on his own. He’s still a little nervous.’
‘Nervous?’
‘You know what men are like. They have no idea what to do when a little girl cries. The first weekend Amy visited, she cried for you the entire time. Jason rang me in a state. He insists I’m there for every visit now.’
‘I had no idea. I mean, I knew you saw Amy every weekend and I knew you were in Jason’s house, but I didn’t realise you spent the entire weekend with them.’
‘Oh yes. I’m sure Jason will get over his panic in time, but for the moment I couldn’t be happier. I can never have too much of my favourite granddaughter.’
‘Right. Do you think Jason will call by tonight?’
‘No, Aoife, I’m afraid he can’t. He’s at a conference in Kerry. It’s his first big presentation. His company are running something or other on Facebook. I can’t remember what it’s called, but Jason set it up for me. If you click on it, you can hear all the speeches. I listened to Jason’s this morning, and later I watched when he was given his award. Isn’t technology amazing?’
‘Amazing.’
*
Aoife put her head in her hands. Okay, so Jason hadn’t been in her house and neither had Blaine. What kind of a burglar breaks into a house, switches on a keyboard and leaves? It had to be somebody who wanted to get into her computer. What was on her computer that would interest anybody? She had the notes of her interviews, but who would care about those? Other than the murderer, of course. Had the murderer been in her house? Oh my God! Had he come to kill her?
