Free Living Death by Graham Masterton Page B

and she had to dab at her eyes with her tissue.
    ‘I don’t know. I was just wondering if you had any ideas.’
    ‘He said he forgot and of course I believe him. Why wouldn’t I?’
    Detective Scanlan said, ‘It wasn’t Eoin who hit you, though, was it?’
    Cleona pressed her left hand against her cheek. ‘Nobody hit me. I fell, that’s all. I tripped over a broomstick in the yard and I fell against the kitchen step.’
    ‘I used to have a boyfriend who hit me,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘I was always telling my friends that I’d fallen over. And what was the other excuse? Oh, I know. I’d stood up suddenly in the kitchen and banged my head on a cupboard door that I’d been stupid enough to leave open.’
    ‘Eoin has never laid a hand on me,’ Cleona insisted. ‘Not once in all our nine years of marriage.’
    ‘You’ve had your arguments, though?’
    ‘We have of course. Which couple doesn’t? But all Eoin does when he flips the lid is take some of the dogs out for a walk.’
    ‘One of the dognappers hit you, didn’t he?’ said Detective Scanlan. She said it so softly that Cleona could hardly hear her, but when she realised what Detective Scanlan had said, she slowly stiffened in her kitchen chair and pulled her dressing-gown tighter across her chest.
    ‘They came into the house, didn’t they, Cleona?’ said Katie.
    ‘I told you. I tripped over a broomstick in the yard and I fell against the kitchen step.’
    ‘You don’t have to make up a story about it, not for us,’ said Detective Scanlan. ‘I’ve seen my own face in the mirror often enough with bruises exactly like yours, and unless you have a pure quare kitchen step with five fingers and a signet ring, it was some feller who hit you, and more than once.’
    Cleona took a deep breath, and then another. Katie could see that she was trying desperately hard to compose herself, so that she could stick to her story that she had fallen over, and back up Eoin’s story that she had never set eyes on the dognappers.
    But Detective Scanlan said, ‘Cleona, sweetheart, we’re not accusing you of doing anything wrong, neither you nor Eoin. But we can see that you’ve been badly hurt and how frightened you are. All we need is for you to tell us what really happened, so that we can clear this all up and find the men who did this to you and stole your dogs.’
    Katie reached out and laid her hand on Cleona’s arm, and squeezed it. ‘You won’t get into any trouble, Cleona. I promise you. But we have to clear this up.’
    Cleona burst into tears. She let out a high-pitched whinny, followed by a deep, lung-wrenching sob. Katie stood up and put her arm around her shoulders, and held her tight. It was over a minute before Cleona was able to stop shaking and wipe her eyes.
    ‘Why did they beat you, Cleona?’ asked Detective Scanlan.
    ‘There were two of them. They came into the house. One of them hit Eoin with his hurley stick and knocked him to the floor. The other one—’
    She started sobbing again, so Katie and Detective Scanlan had to wait until she was able to continue. They exchanged looks, though, and they both had a strong suspicion what Cleona was going to say next.
    ‘The other one – what , sweetheart?’
    ‘The other one did it to me – had his way. I tried everything I could to stop him but he hit me and hit me and hit me, and there was nothing I could do.’
    ‘He raped you?’ said Katie.
    Cleona nodded. ‘I tried to stop him, I swear to God I did. But he was too strong.’
    ‘Can you describe him?’ asked Detective Scanlan.
    Cleona shook her head. ‘The both of them had scarves over their faces. They were rough types, though. They both smelled of cigarettes and drink. But the one who did it to me, the other one called him Keeno.’
    ‘Keeno? You’re sure?’
    ‘He called him that more than once. He told him to get off me because they were leaving. “Will you beat on, Keeno,” that’s what he said exactly, and that was