taking home fish and chips. The police were only able to verify that McAleese was with her in the pub during the evening and that they were later seen in the fish and chip shop. Eileen was his sole alibi for the afternoon of the robbery.
‘The robbery went down at two-thirty in the afternoon on a security van and the whole thing was recorded onCCTV. It was carried out by two masked men, one with a sawn-off shotgun and one with a hand gun. The man with the sawn-off pointed it at the driver’s head while the other demanded the money from the guard who had just come out of the bank. The guard turned to run so he shot him twice in the back of the head with the hand gun,’ McBride explained as he turned a computer screen towards Anna and played the CCTV of the robbery.
‘That defies belief. A life lost for what, a few thousand pounds,’ Anna said, taken aback by the gratuitous violence and the senseless death of the young security guard.
‘For nothing. The scum thought he had made a collection from the bank but he’d just made a delivery so the container was empty.’
‘Why do you suspect McAleese if they were both masked?’ Anna enquired.
‘You could see on the CCTV video that the man who did the shooting had a pronounced limp in his right leg. Well, so does McAleese, as the result of a bad motorbike accident a few years ago.’
Anna paused by the incident board to study the mug shots of Donald McAleese. He was a tough mean-looking man, with small close-set eyes and his thinning greasy hair combed back from a high forehead.
‘Where is he now?’
‘We’ve got him under surveillance, living with his mother, but without more evidence and with no identity for the second man we don’t have enough to arrest and charge him.’
‘How many suspects can you have with a limp?’
She smiled, but McBride was not amused. He checked his watch.
‘Let me go and check if Mrs Oates has been brought in. You want me to leave you alone with her?’
Anna nodded.
‘Can I get you another coffee?’
‘No, thank you.’
As she waited to be called to the interview room, Anna had another look at Donald McAleese’s mug shots and decided Eileen Oates didn’t have great taste in men.
Eileen Oates looked younger than Anna had expected. She had blonde scruffy hair, a thin pale face with acne scars, buck teeth, and she was wearing a scruffy pink jacket with jeans and imitation Ugg boots. Stirring a beaker of tea with a plastic spoon, she glanced up at Anna as she was introduced. McBride hovered for a few moments before leaving the interview room.
‘Is this sugar or salt? I’ve not got ma glasses.’
Anna picked up the white packet and said that it was sugar. She tore off the top and passed it to Eileen.
‘Ta.’
‘Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.’
‘I hadda an option, did eh?’
‘May I call you Eileen?’
‘If ye wannae, it’s ma name.’
‘First off, I want you to understand that I am not here in any connection to Mr McAleese. It is concerning your ex-husband Henry, and if it’s okay with you I’d like to tape our conversation so I can write up my notes when I get back to London.’
Anna placed her Dictaphone on the table.
‘Nae problem, hen, but I cannae help, I’ve not seen him for years, not that ah would wannae see him. Day I moved back here was the best thing I’ve done. I shouldae done itbefore, but with two bairns, I was dependent on ma mother to help me out, which God bless her she did.’
Eileen sipped her tea, sucking her lips together.
‘It must have been hard bringing up two girls on your own,’ Anna suggested.
‘Tell me about it. I had one fuckin’ run off from rehab and t’other’s pregnant. It’s a vicious circle tryin’ to keep ’em on the straight and narrow. I think Corinna’s problems come from that bastard. Told her I slept about and he wasnae her real father and on top of that if he wasnae knocking me around wanting sex he was after her.’
‘You mean
‘The robbery went down at two-thirty in the afternoon on a security van and the whole thing was recorded onCCTV. It was carried out by two masked men, one with a sawn-off shotgun and one with a hand gun. The man with the sawn-off pointed it at the driver’s head while the other demanded the money from the guard who had just come out of the bank. The guard turned to run so he shot him twice in the back of the head with the hand gun,’ McBride explained as he turned a computer screen towards Anna and played the CCTV of the robbery.
‘That defies belief. A life lost for what, a few thousand pounds,’ Anna said, taken aback by the gratuitous violence and the senseless death of the young security guard.
‘For nothing. The scum thought he had made a collection from the bank but he’d just made a delivery so the container was empty.’
‘Why do you suspect McAleese if they were both masked?’ Anna enquired.
‘You could see on the CCTV video that the man who did the shooting had a pronounced limp in his right leg. Well, so does McAleese, as the result of a bad motorbike accident a few years ago.’
Anna paused by the incident board to study the mug shots of Donald McAleese. He was a tough mean-looking man, with small close-set eyes and his thinning greasy hair combed back from a high forehead.
‘Where is he now?’
‘We’ve got him under surveillance, living with his mother, but without more evidence and with no identity for the second man we don’t have enough to arrest and charge him.’
‘How many suspects can you have with a limp?’
She smiled, but McBride was not amused. He checked his watch.
‘Let me go and check if Mrs Oates has been brought in. You want me to leave you alone with her?’
Anna nodded.
‘Can I get you another coffee?’
‘No, thank you.’
As she waited to be called to the interview room, Anna had another look at Donald McAleese’s mug shots and decided Eileen Oates didn’t have great taste in men.
Eileen Oates looked younger than Anna had expected. She had blonde scruffy hair, a thin pale face with acne scars, buck teeth, and she was wearing a scruffy pink jacket with jeans and imitation Ugg boots. Stirring a beaker of tea with a plastic spoon, she glanced up at Anna as she was introduced. McBride hovered for a few moments before leaving the interview room.
‘Is this sugar or salt? I’ve not got ma glasses.’
Anna picked up the white packet and said that it was sugar. She tore off the top and passed it to Eileen.
‘Ta.’
‘Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.’
‘I hadda an option, did eh?’
‘May I call you Eileen?’
‘If ye wannae, it’s ma name.’
‘First off, I want you to understand that I am not here in any connection to Mr McAleese. It is concerning your ex-husband Henry, and if it’s okay with you I’d like to tape our conversation so I can write up my notes when I get back to London.’
Anna placed her Dictaphone on the table.
‘Nae problem, hen, but I cannae help, I’ve not seen him for years, not that ah would wannae see him. Day I moved back here was the best thing I’ve done. I shouldae done itbefore, but with two bairns, I was dependent on ma mother to help me out, which God bless her she did.’
Eileen sipped her tea, sucking her lips together.
‘It must have been hard bringing up two girls on your own,’ Anna suggested.
‘Tell me about it. I had one fuckin’ run off from rehab and t’other’s pregnant. It’s a vicious circle tryin’ to keep ’em on the straight and narrow. I think Corinna’s problems come from that bastard. Told her I slept about and he wasnae her real father and on top of that if he wasnae knocking me around wanting sex he was after her.’
‘You mean
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