‘Nope.’

The lack of CCTV and private security webcams in Dunton may have lent the town a homely feel but it was proving an obstacle for Jake’s investigation.

‘Let me know as soon as you turn up anything on those girls or the home?’

‘No problem.’ Murphy stopped shuffling the papers on his desk. ‘Has the boss said when someone from FSST will arrive to help with this?’

‘Not yet. You’d think it has to be today though, right?’

*

At Jake’s insistence, Liam O’Brien wandered around his sister’s house wearing a pair of gloves. He appeared unable to control his impulse to touch everything he walked past. If this was his normal behaviour, his fingerprints and possibly DNA would be on most items in the public areas of the house.

‘Mr O’Brien, would you agree to us taking a blood or DNA sample from you at the hospital, to help us exclude any DNA we find here that belongs to you?’

O’Brien shrugged. ‘Of course.’

‘You mentioned Ava kept files from the girls’ home here,’ Jake said. ‘Could you show me where?’

‘Like I said, probably in her sewing room, but I’m not certain exactly where.’

‘You’ve had a good look around the house now—do you think anything is missing or out of place?’

‘I don’t know about missing, but she certainly had a tidy up after I left on Wednesday night.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘It’s not that she ever let the place go, but there were usually dishes in the sink. That kind of thing.’ He took in the bare kitchen benchtops with a sweep of his hand. ‘She spent so much time sewing these days.’

Jake really needed the FSST team to process the house. ‘Might she have been expecting an important visitor?’ he asked.

‘Other than me?’ He shook his head.

Jake would have to ask Charlotte, Ava’s other regular visitor, about the usual state of the house. ‘Ava might have had friends you didn’t know about,’ Jake said.

O’Brien’s expression disagreed.

‘When we went through Ava’s diaries, we couldn’t find any reference to what was happening during the years she ran the girls’ school. You must know something?’

‘I already told you everything I know about the place.’

For someone who was yesterday demanding that Jake uncover what happened to his sister, O’Brien wasn’t being particularly helpful. Now was the time to push him.

‘Mr O’Brien, I need to ask you about something the doctor discovered when she was examining Ava.’

‘All right?’

‘Ava had had some unusual surgery in the past.’

O’Brien looked at him blankly—not a flicker of interest.

‘Surgery on her genitals. Do you know why?’

O’Brien’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I don’t get involved in women’s business,’ he said. ‘Nothing to do with me.’

‘Was your sister ever seriously ill? Perhaps with cancer?’

‘She was perfectly healthy all her life, as far as I know.’

‘Was there a time when she went to hospital and you didn’t know why? Perhaps on one of her trips to the mainland?’