‘How long have you worked here?’ I asked.
‘Since I left school,’ said Hazel. ‘I planned to take a year out and then go to college, but I guess I sort of fell in love with this place. Every night there’s something different going on. I’m assistant manager now, so it’s pretty sweet. Matt was saying you might want to ask me some questions?’ she said. ‘About the party?’
‘Yeah, if that’s OK?’ I said. It was weird hearing her refer to him as Matt, like they were friends or something. I guess he would have spent a lot of time talking to her while he was working on the case though.
‘Sure,’ she said with a smile. She sat up on the bar and swung her legs round, so that she was sitting right beside me. ‘Ask me anything.’
Hazel had such an air of confidence about her; she gave off that vibe that some people just have, like they don’t really care what anybody thinks.
‘The night Kayla went missing, did you notice anything strange about her?’ I asked. ‘Was she in a good mood?’
‘Yeah, the thing is, she was in a great mood. And if she hadn’t been I’d definitely have noticed, or she would have told me.’
‘So you two are close?’
‘Yeah, really close. We get on great, but we also have screaming matches when she steals my clothes and breaks my CD cases. We’re just like regular sisters.’
‘When did you first notice she was missing?’
‘Well, I went to sleep kinda early. I’d been working all day and was wrecked. My boyfriend Barry and I went out to get chips around one, then we went to bed. But Libby woke me at about four a.m., saying she couldn’t find Kayla anywhere. The last time I’d seen her, she was dancing with her friend Amy. I’m a bit older than Kayla and Libby, so I’d spent some of the party in my room with Barry watching TV. I didn’t want to cramp their style. I was basically there to make sure the house didn’t get trashed. Not that Kayla’s friends are likely to do that; they’re all pretty well behaved.’
‘Can you remember what happened when Libby woke you?’
‘Yeah, she was in a panic, saying she’d looked everywhere, but she couldn’t find Kayla. I knew something was wrong straight away – you know when you just get a feeling? I called Kev, her ex, and asked if she was with him. He just said “I wish” and then hung up. Libby and I phoned all of her friends, but nobody had seen her. I remember having the horrible thought that maybe someone had abducted her. The others were out looking to see if she’d tripped and hurt herself on her way home, but I knew something was seriously wrong.’ Although Hazel talked about Kayla like she was still here, I got the feeling that she wasn’t as optimistic as Libby and Ellie – that she was a bit more realistic. The tattoo, especially, seemed like a remembrance of her life rather than a reminder to keep looking for her.
‘Some creep did this,’ she said. ‘He tore our lives apart. I’m so glad you’re going to find him, Jacki.’
She touched my arm. I felt so sorry for her.
There was a knock on the door. Hazel walked over to it, again moving so gracefully it was almost hypnotizing.
‘Delivery for Hazel Byrne,’ said the guy outside.
‘Thanks, hun,’ said Hazel as she signed for it. I was sure I saw the delivery guy blush. She seemed like the kind of girl who could have anyone she wanted. The kind of girl people wrote songs about. She walked back across the bar like she owned it. She was a punk-rock princess and this was her palace.
Hazel dropped the box down on the counter.
‘You know,’ she said, ‘sometimes I wake up in the morning, and for one second I forget all this has happened. It’s just so unbelievable. I thought we lived in the safest part of Dublin.’
‘Libby gave me one of Kayla’s necklaces,’ I said, taking it out of my pocket. ‘Hope that’s OK?’
‘Oh yeah, that’s cool. She likes that one; she wears it a lot. So… what exactly do you do? Do you, like, use something that belongs to the person to help lead you to them?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Something like that.’
‘That’s crazy. Ooh, you should meet my friend Lauren. Actually, she was at the party so you’re probably going to meet her anyway. She does fortune-telling in George’s Street Arcade; she’s into all that supernatural stuff. Anything like that freaks me out. But I think there’s probably some truth to it all.’
‘Well, I know there is,’ I said.
‘In a way I suppose I find it comforting,’ she continued. ‘Even though it scares me. My mum died when I was thirteen, so I like to think there’s something there after you die. I like to think that I’ll see her again.’
‘My dad died when I was nine,’ I said. She nodded. We didn’t need to say anything. No ‘I’m so sorry to hear that.’ We both got it; we understood.
‘Did Kayla ever come here?’ I asked.
‘Yeah,’ said Hazel. ‘She loves taking pictures at the gigs, and if there was somebody playing on Tuesdays that I knew she really wanted to see I’d text her and tell her to come down. We aren’t meant to tell anybody, but I know Kayla can keep a secret. One time, Robert Smith from the Cure was here, and she was so excited. She loves them. When we first moved in with Kayla and her mum, Anna, and I heard they were her favourite band, I knew we were going to get along.’
I remembered the Cure song from my dream – ‘Pictures of You’ – barely recognizable on the radio. It took all my concentration not to dwell on the image of the man in the balaclava.
The door of the bar opened and Sergeant Lawlor came in.
‘Hi, Matt,’ said Hazel cheerfully. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘No, thank you, Hazel,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’m going to take Jacki to meet the rest of the team.’ He turned to me. ‘Sorry I’m late. We better get going; they’re waiting for us.’
‘See you soon,’ said Hazel with a smile.
I followed Sergeant Lawlor through Temple Bar, across the road and over to Ming’s. Again it was deserted, apart from two men sitting at a table in the corner. One looked older than Sergeant Lawlor and had a grey moustache. The other was a lot younger; he had short blond hair and was fairly good-looking, if you were into the conventionally attractive type.
I walked behind Sergeant Lawlor over to the table and sat down. ‘This is Sergeant Ray Harte,’ he said, pointing to the younger man. ‘And this is Detective Sergeant Tony Lonergan.’ They both shook my hand.
‘We’re happy to have you on board,’ said Tony, although he didn’t sound like he meant a word of it. He seemed to be eyeing me with suspicion, like I was some sort of imposter. Ray, on the other hand, smiled at me, and was considerably less intimidating.
‘It’s amazing what you can do,’ said Ray. ‘Really amazing. Delighted to have you working with us, Jacki.’
‘Jacki is going to interview the eight suspects,’ said Matt.
‘So that’s what we’re calling them now,’ said Tony with a smirk.
‘I think Matt might be on to something with that,’ said Ray. ‘As you know, I’ve worked on the case from the beginning, and I think there’s something seriously strange about the whole thing.’
‘As do I,’ said Matt. ‘Jacki has already met with some of them, haven’t you?’
‘Well, just three so far,’ I said. ‘Her friend Ellie, and her sister Libby. And Hazel, of course. I asked Libby for an object of Kayla’s; I’m hoping it will help me connect with her.’
‘And she gave it to you?’ said Matt.
‘Yeah, she gave me a necklace. Why?’
‘I’m just impressed, that’s all,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think she’d be so cooperative.’
I was glad I’d impressed him, although getting a necklace was a long way from solving a murder.
‘I still think we’re looking at a serial killer,’ said Tony.
‘You weren’t there at the initial investigation,’ said Matt. ‘There was a lot of conferring going on. Some of the anguish hinted more at guilt than grief. It’s been two years now, and they’ve had time to get used to the lies, practise what they’re going to say. This is messy, which is why I think Jacki’s help is invaluable to us right now.’