A Savage Hunger (Paula Maguire 4) by Claire McGowan Page B

we’ve found the picture.’ And Corry explained, as delicately as she could, about finding the picture in the pool of blood. By the end of it, Yvonne’s mother was weeping. ‘I’m so sorry,’ said Corry. ‘Believe me, we’re going to do everything we can to find out what happened. I know they tried in 1981, but this new information—’
    ‘I always knew she was dead,’ said her mother hoarsely. ‘They said maybe she’d run off, gone with some fella . . . but she never would have. I always had this feeling, in my bones, that she was nearby. If only I could just get her, put her to rest.’
    ‘Like I said, we’ll do everything we can to—’
    ‘Please.’ She tried to steady herself. ‘Please. I know it’s been more than thirty years. But please, I just want to know where she is, before I die. I just want to put her to rest.’
    ‘I promise we’ll try everything,’ said Corry. And Paula knew that she meant it.
    ‘But it doesn’t make sense.’ They were walking to the car, Corry stepping over mud in her good heeled sandals. ‘These kids are barely twenty. I’m surprised they would even know about Yvonne’s case.’
    Paula was struggling with it too. ‘So why did Dermot come to see Mrs O’Neill? He must have gone after we spoke to him.’
    ‘Well, maybe Alice told her something important and he wanted to know what it was. Or maybe he wanted us to think there’s a connection to Yvonne – get him off the hook, since he wasn’t even born in 1981.’ Corry sighed. ‘God knows. But I’d certainly like to know what he was doing out here yesterday. Let’s get back to the station.’

Chapter Eleven
     
    ‘Was Alice Taken By Pagan Cult?’ Corry read aloud. She leafed through the paper. ‘I’m not seeing the part where it says, “No, don’t be daft, of course she wasn’t.”’ She lowered it and glared at Paula. ‘Top-notch investigative reporting there from your fella.’
    Paula made a noise of annoyance, trying to indicate that while Aidan might indeed be ‘her fella’, she had no control over what he chose to print in the Ballyterrin Gazette .
    The wider media had picked up on Alice’s disappearance – Affair Lord’s Daughter Vanishes and so on – but it was the loss of the relic that seemed to rouse the town. Aidan’s paper led with Bring Her Back to Us – and the ‘her’ in the headline meant Saint Blannad, not Alice. It turned out it was a quote from a distraught pensioner, who credited the relic with helping him win the pools.
    ‘Saint Blannad,’ Corry muttered, tossing the paper aside. ‘Feeds the hungry, magics up pool wins for those behind on their fag consumption. Oh bollocks, look who’s coming.’
    A brief flurry of desk-straightening went through the office; Willis Campbell was on patrol. He stopped by Paula and Corry’s desks. ‘Ladies. Any updates?’
    ‘We don’t have any strong leads,’ said Corry in the measured voice she used for him. ‘We know that one of Alice’s college friends was in the vicinity of the church yesterday.’
    ‘That’s all you’ve got?’
    ‘Everyone seems to think she went of her own accord,’ said Paula, earning herself another dark look.
    ‘I don’t follow you.’
    ‘Just that. No one even seems to be worried about her. It’s like they almost . . . expected her to be missing.’ She looked to Corry, who nodded. That was the thing which wasn’t there. Shock. Surprise. That ‘it can’t be happening to us’ slap in the face people felt whenever crime entered their lives.
    ‘We’re going to question the friends again,’ said Corry. ‘See if we can get some sense out of them.’
    He sniffed. ‘Well, you may hope you come up with something soon. Alice’s parents have just arrived. I want you to go and update them.’
    ‘What took them all the way out here?’ Paula asked, as they wound up the seemingly endless driveway to the hotel. She could hear the thunder of the river that ran past the place. Alice