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‘Mrs Wilson?’

‘That’s me.’

For a moment Mooney was speechless. ‘I thought you were missing.’

‘Seems like I’ve been found.’ Her voice was strained, he noted.

After introducing himself, he said, ‘Your husband asked me to call round. Something about a complaint he wanted to make.’

‘Oh, and I thought you were looking for me.’

‘I was, I am, but now I’m not.’ Jesus, he was making a hash of this. Ann Wilson was a striking-looking woman, though she looked as tired as he felt. He could see a tough history written in her face, and he wondered what it was that had her on tenterhooks.

‘Come in. Please. Don’t mind the mess. I was looking for my phone, but I must have left it in the car.’

‘When did you have it last?’ Hadn’t Lottie Parker said she’d had a call from Ann’s phone? She’d thought it might have been Imelda Conroy. Was Ann lying?

‘I can’t recall. I’ve had such a busy day.’

He saw how flustered she was and decided not to mention Imelda Conroy just yet.

‘Denis is in the living room.’ She bent to retrieve her personal stuff from the floor, furiously shoving it all into a large open handbag. Mooney figured it would be easy for someone to steal a wallet or a phone from it. He was about to ask her where she’d been to make Denis think she was missing, but she looked up at him, an unspoken plea in her eyes, just as Wilson appeared in the doorway.

‘Detective Sergeant Mooney. At last. Come in here where we can talk in peace.’

Mooney noticed Ann exhale in relief behind her husband’s back. He was sure that was what it was. Relief. There seemed to be a strange dynamic going on, and he needed to be alert. He followed Wilson into his living room.

‘Nice house you have.’ He was useless at small talk.

‘See this?’ Wilson pointed to his eye. Mooney thought it would take more than a bag of frozen peas to reduce the swelling. ‘That gobshite O’Shaughnessy punched me. A totally unprovoked attack. I want him arrested and charged.’

‘Can I sit down?’

‘Of course. My apologies.’ Wilson smirked and sat on a straight-backed armchair. Mooney took the other. It felt like he was sitting on a board. It would help keep him awake.

‘Could you explain what happened?’

‘Are you not going to write this down?’

‘I just want to get the basics tonight. You’ll have to make a formal complaint at the station at your convenience.’

‘For fuck’s sake. It’s the likes of you that has the country the way it is.’

Mooney stared him out. No way was he rising to the bait for a row at this hour. He silently congratulated O’Shaughnessy on his precision punch.

‘So what happened?’

Wilson exhaled. ‘I thought he had taken Ann. He’s a murderer after all. But he just lashed out. Didn’t give me a chance to defend myself.’

‘Did you provoke him?’

‘Are you for real? See this?’ He jabbed a finger at his eye and winced. ‘This is assault. No extenuating circumstances. And that mongrel of his needs to be put down. I’m lucky it didn’t bite me.’

‘But surely the man didn’t do this to you in his own home for no reason?’

‘I’m telling you, he did.’

‘Did it happen outside the house?’