Lake of Sorrows

“And will you promise me you’ll ring her today?” She looked back up at him and offered another wordless nod. How had this young woman come to bear the whole world upon her back? “I want to thank you for coming forward, Sarah. It took a lot of courage, and it might make the difference to this case. Will you ring me if you think of anything else—anything at all?” Sarah Cummins nodded again and left, tucking his card into her trouser pocket as she walked slowly back to her work. Unseen disturbances lurked everywhere, Ward thought. It was difficult enough to calm the situations that were out in the open. How could human beings hope to forestall the conflicts that raged within a soul turned on itself?

6

Owen Cadogan didn’t look pleased to see two detectives approaching his office, but he was evidently expecting them. He got his secretary—a soft-looking woman, perhaps in her early thirties—to bring in a pot of tea and three mugs on a tray. She glanced at the detectives with that combination of fascination and dismay common in people who find themselves unexpectedly on the periphery of a dreadful crime. When she left, pulling the door closed behind her, Ward jumped right in. “Mr. Cadogan, tell us about your relationship with Ursula Downes.”

Owen Cadogan fixed him with a stare, evidently annoyed at the assumption in the question. “There was no ‘relationship.’ She worked the bog last summer and came back again this year. She and her crew were under my charge here, so we were in fairly regular communication.”

“About what?”

“About the progress they were making, if she needed any supplies, or anything from the workshop—that sort of thing.” He went silent for a moment. “It’s hard to believe she’s—”

“You’re sure that was the extent of it?”

“Extent of what?”

“Of your relationship?”

“I’ve told you there was no ‘relationship’—”

“We have eyewitnesses who say that you had a couple of rather heated exchanges with Ursula a couple of days ago. What was that all about?”

Cadogan’s eyes shifted away. “It was to do with a personnel matter.”

Brennan took the ball. “And how confidential will it be when we have to go through all your employees’ files to find out?” Cadogan looked up into her eyes, on the verge of challenging her authority, Ward thought.

“This is a murder inquiry,” Brennan said curtly, and Cadogan backed down.

“Last summer Ursula got her hooks into one of the lads here in my workshop, and I saw how it turned out. It seemed that Ursula liked to try things sometimes, just to see if she could get away with them. I wasn’t going to let her do it again.”

“Or you’d do what? Seems to me taking her by the throat is a rather unprofessional way of making your point,” Brennan said.

“I’d tried talking to her already, several times, and she wasn’t getting the message.”

Wasn’t getting the message, Ward thought to himself. Here’s a man who doesn’t really like women. Doesn’t trust them, sees them as alien creatures. He listened closely as Brennan continued her questions.

“Sure she didn’t have her hooks into you?” Brennan asked.

“I’m married,” Cadogan said. “Besides, a woman like that—”

“A woman like what? What did she make him do, this young man she seduced? Did you think about that a lot, Mr. Cadogan? Did it upset you—make you feel jealous, perhaps?”

“No! I’m just trying to do my job here.”

“And who was this worker she was after, again?” Brennan asked. “This innocent lamb whose virtue you were defending? Presuming they’re both of legal age, why should it be anything to do with you?”

Cadogan considered his answer. “It wasn’t like that. I wasn’t trying to interfere, but the way she carried on disrupted morale, that was all. We were stuck with her out here for ten weeks, and I was just trying to keep the peace.”