Authors: Minette Walters
Tuesday, 9 March 1999, 1.10 a.m.
Dr Bentley clicked his tongue in concern as he glanced
past Cynthia to her husband. Peter was walking
unsteadily towards them after answering the telephone,
his face leeched of colour in the lights of
the fire engines. 'You should be in bed, man. We
should all be in bed. We're too old for this sort of
excitement.' a
Peter Haversley ignored him. 'That was Siobhan,'
he said jerkily. 'She wants me to tell the police that
Rosheen is missing. She said Liam called the farm
from Kilkenny Cottage at eight thirty this evening,
and she's worried he and Rosheen were in there when
the fire started.'
'They can't have been,' said Jeremy.
'How do you know?'
'We watched Liam and Bridey leave for Winchester
this morning.'
'What if Liam came back to protect his house?
What if he phoned Rosheen and asked her to join
him?'
'Oh, for God's sake, Peter!' snapped Cynthia. 'It's
just Siobhan trying to make trouble again. You know
what she's like.'
'I don't think so. She sounded very distressed.'
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He looked around for a policeman. 'I'd better report
it.'
But his wife gripped his arm to hold him back.
'No,' she said viciously. 'Let Siobhan do her own dirty
work. If she wants to employ a slut to look after her
children then it's her responsibility to keep tabs on
her, not ours.'
There was a moment of stillness while Peter
searched her face in appalled recognition that he was
looking at a stranger, then he drew back his hand and
slapped her across her face. 'Whatever depths you may
have sunk to,' he said, 'I am not-a murderer . . .'
79
I
LATE NEWS Daily Telegraph Tuesday, 9 March, a.m.
Irish Family Burnt Out
by Vigilantes
The family home of Patrick O'Riordan,
currently on trial for the murder of
Lavinia Fanshaw and Dorothy Jenkins,
was burnt to the ground last
night in what police suspect was a
deliberate act of arson. Concern has
been expressed over the whereabouts
of O'Riordan's elderly parents, and
some reports suggest bodies were
recovered from the gutted kitchen.
Police are refusing to confirm or deny
the rumours. Suspicion has fallen on
local vigilante groups who have been
conducting a 'hate' campaign against
the O'Riordan family. In face of criticism,
Hampshire police have restated
their policy of zero tolerance towards
anyone who decides to take the law
into his own hands. 'We will not hesitate
to prosecute,' said a spokesman.
'Vigilantes should understand that
arson is a very serious offence.'
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i
Six
Tuesday, 9 March 1999, 6.00 a.m.
When Siobhan heard a car pull into the driveway at
six a.m. she prayed briefly, but with little hope, that
someone had found Rosheen and brought her home.
Hollow-eyed from lack of sleep, she opened her front
door and stared at the two policemen on her doorstep.
They looked like ghosts in the grey dawn light.
Harbingers of doom, she thought, reading their
troubled expressions. She recognized one of them as
the detective inspector and the other as the young
constable who had flagged her down the previous
night. 'You'd better come in,' she said, pulling the
door wide.
'Thank you.'
She led the way into the kitchen and dropped onto
the cushion in front of the Aga again, cradling Patch
in her arms. 'This is Bridey's dog,' she told them,
stroking his muzzle. 'She adores him. He adores her.
The trouble is he's a hopeless guard dog. He's like
Bridey - ' tears of exhaustion sprang into her eyes 81
'not overly bright - not overly brave - but as kind as
kind can be.'
The two policemen stood awkwardly in front of
her, unsure where to sit or what to say.
'You look terrible,' she said unevenly, 'so I
presume
you've come to tell me Rosheen is dead.'
'We don't know yet, Mrs Lavenham,' said the
inspector, turning a chair to face her and lowering
himself onto it. He gestured to the young constable
to do the same. 'We found a body in the kitchen area,
but it'll be some time before--' He paused, unsure
how to continue.
'I'm afraid it was so badly burnt it was unrecognizable.
We're waiting on the pathologist's report to give
us an idea of the age and - ' he paused again - 'sex.'
'Oh, God!' she said dully. 'Then it must be
Rosheen.'
'Why don't you think it's Bridey or Liam?'
'Because . . .' she broke off with a worried frown,
'I assumed the phone call was a hoax to frighten
Rosheen. Oh, my God! Aren't they in Winchester?'
He looked troubled. 'They were escorted to a safe
house at the end of yesterday's proceedings but it
appears they left again shortly afterwards. There was
no one to monitor them, you see. They had a direct
line through to the local police station and we sent
out regular patrols during the night. We were worried
about trouble coming from outside, not that they
might decide to return to Kilkenny Cottage without
telling us.' He rubbed a hand around his jaw. 'There
I
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are recent tyre marks up at the manor. We think Liam
may have parked his Ford there in order to push
Bridey across the lawn and through the gate onto the
footpath beside Kilkenny Cottage.'
She shook her head in bewilderment. 'Then why
didn't you find three bodies?'
'Because the car isn't there now, Mrs Lavenham,
and whoever died in Kilkenny Cottage probably died
at the hands of Liam O'Riordan.'
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Wednesday, 10 February 1999
She had stood up at the end of her interview with the
inspector. 'Do you know what I hate most about
the English?' she said.
He shook his head.
'It never occurs to you, you might be wrong.' She
placed her palm on the poison-pen letter on his desk.
'But you're wrong about this. Bridey cares about my
opinion - she cares about me - not just as a fellow
Irishwoman but as the employer of her niece. She'd
never do anything to jeopardize Rosheen's position
in our house because Rosheen and I are her only lifeline
in Sowerbridge. We shop for her, we do our best
to protect her, and we welcome her to the farm when
things get difficult. Under no circumstances whatsoever would Bridey use me to pass on falsified evidence
because she'd be too afraid I'd wash my hands of her
and then persuade Rosheen to do the same.'
'It may be true, Mrs Lavenham, but it's not an
argument you could ever use in court.'
'I'm not interested in legal argument, Inspector,
I'm only interested in persuading you that there is a
terror campaign being waged against the O'Riordans
in Sowerbridge and that their lives are in danger.' She
watched him shake his head. 'You haven't listened to
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a word I've said, have you? You just think I'm taking
Bridey's side because I'm Irish.'
'Aren't you?'
No.' She straightened with a sigh. 'Moral support
is alien to Irish culture, Inspector. We only really
enjoy fighting with each other. I thought every Englishman
knew that. . .'
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Tuesday, 9 March 1999, noon
The news that Patrick O'Riordan's trial had been
adjourned while police investigated the disappearance
of his parents and his cousin was broadcast across the
networks at noon, but Siobhan switched off the radio
before the names could register with her two young
sons.
They had sat wide-eyed all morning watching a «
procession of policemen traipse to and from Rosheen's
bedroom in search of anything that might give them
a lead to where she had gone. Most poignantly, as far
as Siobhan was concerned, they had carefully removed
the girl's hairbrush, some used tissues from her wastepaper
basket and a small pile of dirty washing in order
to provide the pathologist with comparative DNA
samples.
She had explained to the boys that Rosheen hadn't
been in the house when she got back the previous
night, and because she was worried about it she had
asked the police to help find her.
'She went to Auntie Bridey's,' said six-year-old
James.
'How do you know, darling?'
'Because Uncle Liam phoned and said Auntie
Bridey wasn't feeling very well.'
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'Did Rosheen tell you that?'
He nodded. 'She said she wouldn't be long but
that I had to go to sleep. So I did.'
She dropped a kiss on the top of his head. 'Good
boy.'
He and Oliver were drawing pictures at the kitchen
table, and James suddenly dragged his pencil to and
fro across the page to obliterate what he'd been doing.
'Is it because Uncle Patrick killed that lady?' he asked
her.
Siobhan searched his face for a moment. The rules
had been very clear . . . Whatever else you do, Rosheen,
please do not tell the children what Patrick has been
accused of. . . 'I didn't know you knew about that,'
she said lightly.
'Everyone knows,' he told her solemnly. 'Uncle
Patrick's a monster and ought to be strung up.'
'Goodness!' she exclaimed, forcing a smile to her
lips. 'Who said that?'
'Kevin.'
Anger tightened like knots in her chest. Ian had
laid it on the line following the incident in the barn . . .
You may see Kevin in your spare time, Rosheen, but not
when you're in charge of the children . . . 'Kevin Wyllie?
Rosheen's friend?' She squatted down beside him,
smoothing a lock of hair from his forehead. 'Does he
come here a lot?'
'Rosheen said we weren't to tell.'
'I don't think she meant you musn't tell me,
darling.'
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James wrapped his thin little arms round her neck
and pressed his cheek against hers. 'I think she did,
Mummy. She said Kevin would rip her head off if we told you and Daddy anything.'
88
Tuesday, 9 March 1999, later
'I can't believe I let this happen,' she told the inspector,
pacing up and down her drawing room in a frenzy
of movement. 'I should have listened to Ian. He said
Kevin was no good the minute he saw him.'
'Calm down, Mrs Lavenham,' he said quietly. 'I
imagine your children can hear ever}' word you're
saying.'
'But why didn't Rosheen tell me Kevin was threatening
her? God knows, she should have known she
could trust me. I've bent over backwards to help her
and her family.'
'Perhaps that's the problem,' he suggested. 'Perhaps
she was worried about laying any more burdens
on your shoulders.'
'But she was responsible for my children, for God's
sake! I can't believe she'd keep quiet while some low
grade neanderthal was terrorizing her.'
The inspector watched her for a moment, wondering
how much to tell her. 'Kevin Wyllie is also
missing,' he said abruptly. 'We're collecting DNA
samples from his bedroom because we think the body
at Kilkenny Cottage is his.'
Siobhan stared at him in bewilderment. 'I don't
understand.'
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He gave a hollow laugh. 'The one thing the pathologist can be certain about, Mrs Lavenham, is that the
body was upright when it died.'
'I still don't understand.'
He looked ill, she thought, as he ran his tongue
across dry lips. 'We're working on the theory that Liam,
Bridey and Rosheen appointed themselves judge, jury
and hangman before setting fire to Kilkenny Cottage
in order to destroy the evidence.'
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Daily Telegraph - Wednesday, 10 March, a.m.
ii
Couple Arrested
Two people, believed to be the parents
of Patrick O'Riordan, whose trial at
Winchester Crown Court was
adjourned two days ago, were arrested
on suspicion of murder in Liverpool
yesterday as they attempted to board
a ferry to Ireland. There is still no clue
to the whereabouts of their niece
Rosheen, whose family lives in
County Donegal. Hampshire police
have admitted that the Irish Garda
have been assisting them in their
search for the missing family. Suspicion
remains that the body found in
Kilkenny Cottage was that of Sower
bridge resident Kevin Wyllie, 28,
although police refuse to confirm or
deny the story.
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