held up her identification. ‘I’m DI Harte, this is DS Driscoll. Thank you for calling us Miss Hanson. May we come in?’
‘Call me Celia – and of course. I have to leave for work in fifteen minutes, so we’ll have to be quick.’ They followed the woman across the tiled floor into the long galley kitchen. An old range stood to one side and a stained Belfast sink faced the window. A stack of washed Pot Noodle containers rested on the draining board and were threatening to topple at any moment. The door at the end of the room stood ajar, exposing the Victorian-style downstairs bathroom.
Gina inhaled the smell of bubble bath mixed with bleach. ‘We’ll try not to keep you too long. You told one of our officers that you saw this man around the back of your house on Tuesday?’ Gina pulled the photo from her bag and held it up.
The woman nodded. ‘I didn’t think too much about it. We have a lot of problems around here so it was nothing unusual. There’s an old access road that runs at the back of this street and it eventually reaches the high street.’ Gina knew that to be the case. It was the same road where Gina had come across their victim, Al, only a few nights ago, although she’d bumped into him much further up. ‘Some people drive up it to park their cars out the back and access garages, others dump things. I keep a look out. We’re sick of people leaving old mattresses and bin bags by our houses so we take it in turns to keep watch. It was my turn on Tuesday night, that’s when I saw him.’
Jacob pointed to the photo. ‘This is the man you definitely saw. Is that correct?’
She nodded, her chin doubling a little as she scrutinised the photo. ‘Hang on.’ She opened a drawer stuffed full of oddments and pulled out a pair of glasses before placing them on. ‘The photo isn’t good but it’s definitely the same man who was outside my back gate. I also took a photo from my bedroom when he was here. You can tell by his stance and what you can see of his features.’ The woman pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled until she found what she was looking for. She held her phone up.
Gina leaned in for a closer look. The photo was almost too grainy to see but the features matched their victim. The distance between the eyes and the length of the nose were a giveaway as was his ever so slight hunch where he leaned a little to the right. ‘You said someone else was with him, a woman?’
‘She came later. I was upstairs tidying the bedroom when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I was already on alert as I was on watch that evening, so I had no television or music on. Once I spotted him, I turned off the light and continued watching. I was hoping to catch him at something illegal so I could call you lot. At first, I thought drugs. He wasn’t carrying any rubbish and he was lurking around, walking up and down as if he was waiting for someone. I took the photo quickly and hurried downstairs. I thought that if I went in the garden, I might hear something.’
‘And did you?’
She nodded. ‘I gently opened the door. My back gate was locked. I have several locks on it, so I wasn’t worried about him coming in and attacking me. As I opened the door, I could hear him shouting. A woman spoke back in a hushed voice, but I couldn’t work out what she was saying. He was shouting, “Stay away from me you stalking bitch.”’ She pulled a notebook from the side and flicked through a few pages. ‘I know these to be the words I heard as I wrote them down at the time. There was a bit of shuffling and murmuring then my fence rattled and I heard the man scream in pain before the woman ran off. I hurried back inside, ran up the stairs. I was about to call you lot, then I saw him staggering in the direction of the high street. This happens a lot around here. There are always people arguing when the pubs close or when they’re drinking, or taking drugs. We – the residents – have reported this on many occasions. To