In the morning Shane woke before dawn, determined to come up with a solution for Angela before the briefing began.

  He put on his trousers, still without a belt. His hair stood in every direction. He washed, shaved, brushed his teeth, and all the while he kept thinking about Angela. More than once the thought crossed his mind to leave the girl alone. Then he imagined fire engines and police cars surrounding his complex and changed his mind.

  Walking into the kitchen to make coffee, he scrolled through the contact list on his phone. He poured the beans into the machine and pressed the button automatically. When he turned toward the table, his breath caught. Of all things, this was what he had not expected to see in the morning.

  Two words were laid out on the table. If only it had been an innocent “good morning.” No. Angela had written, “I am sin.”

  Since the phone was already in his hand, he took several pictures.

  His head was spinning. First he had learned that Greg and Judith were cousins and that Timothy was not an O’Flaherty. Then Angela had panicked at the name Gary. The night before he had struggled to calm her without asking further questions. And now he was looking at this message.

  Why did she consider herself a sin?

  “Were you put in the basement as punishment?” he asked quietly into the empty room.

  He remembered the Bible in the basement among the other books, worn to shreds. According to the neighbors, the O’Flahertys had been religious fanatics. Sin.

  Angela knew Gary. She was familiar with the house and those people. That meant she had not been brought there. A clear conviction formed that Angela had been in her own home.

  We will see what Faye and Anita say at the meeting. They were supposed to stop by the local school, he thought, scrolling through his contacts again.

  There was only one person he could call. Molly.

  An hour and a half later Molly arrived together with her daughter in law Sophie, which irritated Shane. He had asked Molly not to tell anyone, but she assured him Sophie could be trusted.

  “That way we can replace each other in case of unforeseen circumstances,” Molly said, taking containers of prepared food out of her bag.

  “Sophie, I am asking you, not a word to your husband. If I find out, I will have to take measures. I will be in serious trouble if journalists find out, and especially if my superiors do.”

  “Inspector, Joshua would never…”

  “Mrs. Daniel,” Shane said more firmly, “you have already shaken my trust. Please do as I ask.”

  “Do not worry, Inspector O’Halloran, we will be as silent as fish,” Sophie said gently.

  “I have no one else to turn to,” Shane explained, putting on his jacket. “Angela is beginning to speak.”

  “What?” Molly was genuinely astonished.

  “Yes. She told me quite a lot, and I would like you, as a teacher, to continue working with her. Sometimes she draws, sometimes she writes, but she writes poorly. I would like her to write better.”

  “Of course, I… will work with her,” Molly said, still stunned.

  At ten the briefing began. A few minutes before everyone gathered, Gallagher asked with a smirk, “How was the night?”

  Shane kept a serious expression. Without answering, he simply opened a photo on his phone and showed it to Evan.

  “‘I am sin’? She wrote that?”

  “No, I did. I sleepwalk. Of course she did.”

  “Hm. What could that mean?”

  “That is what I would like to know.”

  Faye noticed their whispering.

  “Boss, you look rumpled. A woman to blame?” she joked.

  Shane shot her a stern look and she quickly sat down.

  “To begin with, I want to inform you that on Monday we will finally make a statement to the press. The management insists that Angela’s story be made public. I do not like posing in front of cameras, so I am leaving that to you, Gallagher. Once again, Monday at nine you will attend the press conference.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “As always, all the unpleasantness falls to me,” Evan grumbled, making a note.

  “Yes, Evan, yes. Next.” Shane did not sit. He paced in front of the large table. He could not sit still. His head was overloaded with thoughts, and at that moment he was trying to focus. “What do we know today? We know that in the house now owned by the Daniels lived the O’Flahertys, religious fanatics, a quiet brother and sister who walked hand in hand. They were apparently drowned in the river. For now that is only an assumption. Judith had a husband, Gary Banning, and a son, Tim. The latter two have not appeared so far. We have also learned that the intermediary, Dylan, lived nearby in house number ten. That means they were all connected. It is unfortunate that Stan Dylan is currently incapacitated and cannot testify. That complicates our work.” He approached the table and saw Angela’s photo. “The girl… you know, this is my personal opinion, but Angela was most likely born there. But why did she end up in the basement?”

  “We were at the school, sir,” Anita said.

  “Did you learn anything?”

  “The principal pulled the archives for 2014 and 2015. We searched under the surname of the homeowners, O’Flaherty.”

  “And?”

  “There was never any girl with that surname at the school. But the principal remembers Timothy Banning well because he was extremely aggressive, harassed teachers, bullied students.”

  Shane swore under his breath. Another dead end.

  “What about the neighbors?”

  Faye stood and walked to the board, pointing at a map of the Coleraine district. Shane noticed several men staring at her striking figure, so he coughed loudly. Startled, a few of them buried themselves in their papers. Faye began to speak.

  “So, the O’Flahertys lived in house number six. Houses four and two are on one side, and on the other side are eight and ten. House ten is clear. Dylan, although he was the intermediary for the seller, cannot tell us anything now. Fisherman Branigan is quite old and confuses his memories, often drifting off topic. Sir, I would not rely on his words.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said thieves climbed into the O’Flaherty garden, possibly local teenagers. He does not remember when. He ignored the question about the girl.”

  “Fine. Continue.”

  “Jodie McCormack, the teacher from house four, does not remember whether she saw a girl or not. By the end of the conversation she concluded that she only knew Timothy. The Finnish couple from house two have still not returned. Anita and I tried looking through the windows. The house is empty. As if no one ever lived there. They cannot be sleeping on the floor.”

  “Anita, out of curiosity, track that couple down.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Faye marked the houses she had mentioned with crosses. Then came the houses across the street, the odd numbers. There was little success there as well.

  “We managed to catch Mr. Byrne from house one sober,” she said, glancing at Anita.

  Shane raised his eyebrows.

  “Did he actually say anything?”

  “He did, sir. That is why I saved him for last. Better listen.”

  Faye waited for silence and then turned on the recorder.

  Faye O’Keefe: “Mr. Byrne, may I ask you a few questions? We are investigating house number six. You may have heard that a girl was found in the basement who lived there for ten years. Can you tell us anything?”

  Seamus Byrne: “A girl in the basement?”

  Faye O’Keefe: “Yes. We would like to know whether the O’Flahertys had any children besides Timothy.”

  Seamus Byrne: “There were always crowds of people in their house. And when no one came, you could neither see nor hear them. A very strange family. I drank with Gary many times. Well, he complained about his wife, but he never spoke about children.”

  Faye O’Keefe: “Excuse me, you said Gary. Who is that?”

  Seamus Byrne: “Judith’s husband. How is it you do not know about him?”

  Faye O’Keefe: “Then who is Greg O’Flaherty?”

  Seamus Byrne: “According to Gary, Greg was a freeloader. He filled his wife’s head with nonsense. Gary hated him.”

  Faye O’Keefe: “What did Gary do?”

  Seamus Byrne: “He is a locksmith. And a fisherman. Often fished on our lake with Branigan. And when the neighbor was away, he would take the boat without asking and…”

  At that point Faye stopped the recording. Silence followed.

  “AJ,” Shane addressed the constable, “take a few men and visit old Branigan. Inspect the boat. It is quite possible the crime was committed on it. If so, we practically know the name of the perpetrator.”

  “Gallagher, question Branigan seriously. Preferably at the station. A picture is forming here. I do not want to miss anything.”

  Shane spent the rest of the working day at the station, thinking and comparing facts. He called Molly a couple of times to ask about Angela. She assured him the girl was not bored.

  “I have one urgent matter. Do you mind if I am delayed for an hour?”

  “Everything is fine, Inspector, take your time.”

  Shane had no intention of abusing Molly Daniel’s time, but if he did not calm his soul today, life would not seem bright. From the station he drove to a well known construction supply company in Derry. He had to wait a little. As soon as Joshua Daniel stepped out of his firm, saying goodbye to employees on the way, Shane tensed and started the engine.

  He followed Joshua by car all the way home. There he intercepted him. Sophie was with Molly at his place, so no one would interfere with his plan.

  “Mr. Daniel,” Shane called, pushing himself off the trunk of a tree.

  “Inspector?” Joshua was surprised. “How can I help you?”

  Clenching his fist, Shane swung and struck Joshua in the jaw. He fell onto the grass, writhing in pain.

  “What the hell!”

  Shane crouched down.

  “Today I came as an ordinary citizen, not a police officer. There is no law for men like you, so I have delivered my own punishment. If you go near Angela again, if you touch her with even a finger, I will beat your face so badly your own mother will not recognize you. Understood?”

  “I did not…”

  “You.” O’Halloran grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and yanked him closer. “You are a damn pervert. What a pity that Molly has such a rotten son.”

  Shane stood and brushed himself off. Joshua sat on the grass, wiping blood from his lip.

  “How did you know? She does not talk.”

  “Never try to underestimate people with limitations. She has a head, hands, and a soul. She is not helpless.”

  Having satisfied his urge to smash Joshua Daniel’s face, Shane drove away. If anyone ever touched Angela again, they would regret it. She had asked for protection, and he was ready to protect her.