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Asante clears his throat. ‘You work in Belfast, is that right?’
‘Right. I’m only here for the holidays.’
‘And I believe you’ve been seeing a woman there called Katherine Madigan?’
O’Brien opens his mouth and closes it again. ‘Kate?’ he says nervously. ‘What’s this got to do with her? Is she OK?’
Bradley tries to look reassuring. ‘As far as we’re aware. Though we would like to know when you last heard from her.’
He falters a little. ‘Well, we haven’t really been in touch.’
‘You’re not seeing each other any more?’
‘Well, not exactly. It’s complicated, you know? What with me being over here for the summer and her with Sabrina.’
‘Sabrina’s her daughter?’ asks Asante, deadpan. Bradley smiles to herself; if the police career goes phut he could always take up poker.
O’Brien frowns a little. ‘She prefers Sam, actually, but yeah. Why do you ask?’
‘No special reason. So when did you say you last spoke to her? Kate?’
He takes a breath. ‘Maybe a month or so? We were supposed to spend a weekend together in June but she had to cancel at the last minute.’
‘You’ve had no contact since then?’
Asante’s been making notes and doesn’t look up. ‘When in June was it exactly – this weekend?’
‘The 15th. Sam – Sabrina – was going to Dublin to stay with a friend that weekend. Kate dropped her off at the station.’
Asante is looking up now. ‘You’re sure about that – the 15th?’
‘Right.’ He looks a little uneasy. ‘It was quite a spur of the moment thing – we only arranged it a day or so before.’
‘Whose idea was it – hers or yours?’
‘Hers.’
‘And what did she say when she cancelled – what excuse did she give?’
He flushes a little. ‘Look, if you really want to know, we had a bit of a row. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and it was just a bit fraught. She ended up saying we should take a bit of a break. At least while I’m over here.’
Poor sod, thinks Bradley, he’s been dumped and doesn’t even know it.
‘So when was this row?’
He stares from one to the other. ‘When I picked her up from the airport.’
‘So not in Belfast – you saw herhere?’
He nods. ‘So what? What difference does it make?’
Maybe they do need to sit down.
‘OK, Mr O’Brien,’ says Asante, ‘let’s get this straight. You picked Kate Madigan up after she travelled here from Belfast, yes? Which airport was it?’
‘Birmingham,’ he says as if that must be obvious. ‘It’s the nearest to here.’
‘Do you have the flight number?’ continues Asante.