Angel Kiss - Laura Jane Cassidy [75]
Look in the bag, said that voice in my head. But I had looked in the bag. I had examined all its contents. There was nothing new.
Look in the bag.
I tipped it upside down, but nothing fell out.
I opened the two front pockets, but there was nothing in them.
I searched every inch of it. And that’s when I found it. A zip on the inside, at the very back, hidden by the torn lining. I pulled the zip open. There was something in there. A card. I took it out.
It was a library card for the library in Carrick.
The name on it?
Elizabeth Cullen.
Oh my God. I knew this was important. I knew it was evidence. It would prove this was Beth’s bag.
I put everything back in the bag and gripped the leather handles.
‘Hello, Jacki.’
I recognized the voice immediately. I felt my insides collapsing with fear. I turned round, gripping the handles tighter.
Chapter 24
He was sitting in the darkness at the table. I hadn’t heard him come in; he must have snuck in after me.
‘Peter … What are you doing here?’ I tried to act normal, even though my heart was pounding.
‘Fancy yourself as a bit of a detective, do you?’
‘What?’ I said, trying to hide my terror.
He held up my notebook. How did he get that? He must have been rooting around in the spare room I was staying in. ‘Nice little collection of clues you’ve got here,’ he said.
I clutched the bag tightly. I remembered what Lydia had said. He’s too well connected. She was right: Peter Mulvey was very well connected.
He lit up a cigarette. My eyes darted around the caravan. If I made a run for the door I’d never make it. If I screamed, it was unlikely that anyone would hear me. Everyone was down in the town hall. Everyone except me and Peter.
‘I thought I ought to visit your back garden last week to have a little look … to see what had been dug up. But of course you and your mother interrupted me. I had to get out through the hedge before you could catch me. Scramble off like an animal.’ Peter gave me a sick little wink. I suddenly remembered him trailing mud into the Garda station. The mud from our back garden.
‘People already know about this,’ I said. ‘Even if … even if something happens to me. You won’t get away with it.’
‘All people know about are the delusions of a ditsy fifteen-year-old. With no evidence to back them up, they’re hardly a threat to me,’ he said with a laugh, flicking his cigarette ash on to the white plastic table. The tiny pieces of orange ash faded into black dust.
‘And they definitely won’t be a threat when you … when you’re no longer here.’
I was terrified but I tried my best not to panic.
‘You’ll never get away with it,’ I said. ‘It’s not like it was back then, you know. The forensics are way more advanced … you’ll never –’
‘You’ve been staying in my house, Jacki. My DNA will understandably be on you. Besides I think we both know who is the more likely suspect. The man who has been stalking your mother … pestering you … The man who is already suspected of the murder of his own girlfriend.’
I tried to look unconvinced. ‘Des wasn’t stalking us.’
‘That’s not what your mother told Michael Reynolds.’ Peter took another puff. ‘Michael will know exactly who to blame when your body is found. But he’ll never be able to even ask Des for a confession, will he? Shame.’
‘What? What do you mean?’
‘Well … I wouldn’t be surprised if due to the guilt of killing you … Des hadn’t tried to take his own life. Poor guy. He’s probably lying in a pool of his own blood right now, his life draining away.’
He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with his sleeve. I could see the evil in Peter’s eyes. His pale blue eyes.
‘No. You didn’t …’
‘It was actually pretty easy. Did you know Mrs Butler often forgets