Now she was numb, watching the passing woods, wondering what the hell was happening. If he was going to rape her, she’d go along with it. She’d let him do whatever he wanted as long as she could get out of this car and survive this ordeal.

She’d figure a way out.

CHAPTER 4

They worked late into the night.

All involved, from the ordinary uniforms to hardened senior officers, were shocked at the scale of the discovery.

Tom stayed on site, overseeing operations and offering his unit leadership and support. As the hours wore on and fatigue set in, he and Laura made their way to the café by the lake to source coffees for the team. Its owner had stayed on with the kind offer of supplying the guards with sustenance.

They stood on the shore, the water lapping at their feet, as they waited for the order to be made up. Laura’s long chestnut curls lifted softly in the gentle, early evening breeze.

‘I can’t get my head around this,’ she said, hushed and appalled. ‘This is Ireland! I still remember when one murder could keep the public horrified and enthralled for months. I know things have escalated since then, but a serial killer? Here?’

In her early thirties, Laura was the youngest member of Tom’s team. She’d already seen far too much for her years but nothing came close to what they’d found this day.

‘We’ve had cases before of people who killed multiple times,’ he answered. ‘Remember Kilcross? But, no, there’s been nothing like this. Not that we didn’t suspect it was coming. Too many women have vanished into thin air over the years.’

He reached down to pick up a smooth stone from among the pebbles at their feet and tossed it into the water, watching the ripples before looking up at the mountains that met at the top of the lake, still visible in the half light of the summer night.

‘When we were children, we used to come up to Dublin to see the Kerry footballers playing in Croke Park on match day Sundays,’ Laura said. ‘When Dad could get a Saturday off, we’d make a weekend of it. Our parents would take us here or to Powerscourt. I remember this great sense of freedom. Running up and down hills, climbing trees, ice creams if we were lucky. Being here as an adult … well, you realise how peaceful it is, don’t you?’

She let out a sigh and pulled her cardigan closed against an imaginary chill.

‘It’s hard to imagine violence here. You can see why the monks chose this spot as a centre for prayer. It’s like –’

She paused.

‘What?’ The inspector asked.

‘I … I was just thinking it’s so magnificent, it’s like God pressed his thumb on the earth to mark this place out.’ She flushed red.