Page 40 of The Trap by Catherine
Denise shook her head. “There’s no need. The names and pictures of these missing women have been plastered all over the place for over six months. If a member of the public came across something like a wallet or an ID card or a keychain with one of their names on it, they’d tell us. And if they wouldn’t, we’re not going to make it happen with an appeal.” Denise paused. “But you know what? You do have a point on the charity shops. They could have donations they haven’t sorted through yet. We could ask that, if they have unsorted stock and they have the time, they go through it. But the thing is, we couldn’t do this officially. If Colin the Showboat found out, I’d be in trouble. If you want to take a piss on this op, you have to ask him first.Which is why I have you.”
“Me?” Angela frowned. “What difference does that make?”
“You found the bag. You told your boss about it. Your boss told me—not officially; it just came up in conversation”—Denise winked—“and I offered to help you out, because Don let you run with it a bit, because you want to be an actual guard and not just a paper-pusher with clearance. We’re not investigating the missing women, Angela. We’re just taking a closer look at a three-year-old missing person report no one else gave a shit about, who may or may not turn out to be one Operation Tide missed.”
“I see.” Angela was feeling more and more deflated by the minute. “Yeah.”
“But,” Denise said, “wecoulddo a social-media appeal. Maybe. Community Facebook groups, Twitter, etc. That kind of thing. But not one that links to us directly. We’d have to give it to someone else, a civilian, to post it and get the ball rolling.”
“Like who?”
“I might have just the person, actually. Caroline O’Callaghan.”
Angela frowned. “Why do I know that name?”
“She was a friend of Tana Meehan’s,” Denise said. “Actually, she was the one who positively identified her at the bus stop in Kildare town that night. When the cases got joined up, she became a sort ofde factoorganizer for the families. Tana’s parents aren’t up to it, and Roland Kearns can hardly chip in, so it all sorta worked out. She’s a bit of a busybody, but she’d be useful to us on this. Do you have a Gmail account?”
Angela nodded.
“And that’s just in Word, is it?”
Angela nodded again.
“Recreate it on your home computer and send it from your own email to hers. Here, take this down.” Denise had been scrolling on her phone while she talked, and now it was showing a contact forCaroline O’C (Tana M)along with an address and phone number. Angela hurried to copy the information on to the nearest piece of blank paper she had on her desk. “But wait until after I speak to her, OK? No offense, but we can’t have some rando civilian ringing her up about this. I’ll explain everything first, so she’ll be expecting you.”
The contact information abruptly disappeared from the screen, because the phone was pulsing with an incoming call fromDundrum.
“Hang on,” she said, rolling her eyes.
Angela did her best to finish scribbling down the contact info from memory. She might double-check it again later.
“Yeah?” Denise said, having put the phone to her ear.
The only people in the MPU were Angela, Denise, Don, and another civilian Garda staff member, and he and Don were at Don’s desk at the back of the room, talking in low voices about a folder that was open in front of them. There was no radio, no key-clacking, and no one else talking, so it was quiet enough for Angela to hear the other half of Denise’s phone conversation clearly.
“Hey, can you talk?” A male voice.
Denise made a face at Angela as if to say,This fucking guy. “I wouldn’t have answered if the answer was no, DFS Dineen.”
“Lucy O’Sullivan called 999 last night to report an intruder in the garden. A man dressed all in black, she said.”
“Did he have a press pass?”
A snort on the line. “If he did, he didn’t flash it.”
“Please tell me he didn’t flash anything else...”
“She said he was outside the kitchen window looking in, watching her, but he ran away when she saw him.”
“What time was this?” Denise asked.
“Ah, around two.”
“I take it she didn’t recognize him?”
“It doesn’t say she did, no.”
“I take it we sent around some uniforms?”
