Page 63 of The Guilty Girl
Was this six-foot tall teenager still a mammy’s boy? McKeown hid a smile. ‘Time?’
‘Sorry?’
‘What time did you leave the party?’
‘Around twelve. Ask my mother. She’ll tell you.’
‘Don’t worry, I intend to.’ That made the lad’s head snap upwards. Was he naive enough to think this conversation was private? Tough luck, kid. ‘Tell me about the party.’
‘What about it?’
If he didn’t stop tapping, McKeown thought he might actually grab Sean’s hand and slap a pair of handcuffs on him. ‘Who was there? What went on? Any shagging, rows, drug taking? Anything stand out as unusual?’
‘I don’t go to many parties, so I wouldn’t know what’s unusual. There was a good crowd there. I didn’t know many. I left early. It was too warm, the drink was shite and I was hungry.’
‘No food? I heard a ton of pizzas were delivered.’
‘That must have been later on.’
‘Who were you there with?’
‘A couple of lads from school. After a while I bumped into Cormac O’Flaherty. I play online games with him and I’ve met up with him in town a few times. We talked for a while. He was hanging out with Hannah Byrne. I didn’t really talk to anyone else.’
‘What was their relationship like? Cormac and Hannah?’
‘How would I know? She went off outside for a while and I chatted to Cormac.’ The tapping stopped.
‘Were they taking drugs?’
Sean bit his lip. Making a decision, probably. Would it be a lie or the truth? McKeown hoped it’d be a lie, and oh how he’d bask in bringing his mother down to earth when it was revealed.
‘I think Cormac bought a few pills.’
The truth. McKeown was disappointed. ‘What type of pills were they?’
‘I don’t do that stuff, so I don’t know.’
‘Did you see Cormac or Hannah take the pills?’
‘I left shortly after meeting up with them.’
Not a direct answer to the question. ‘Did you witness any fights or arguments?’
‘Witness?’
‘Sean, you’re an intelligent boy, so stop acting like you’re stupid. It’s wearing thin, and if I’m honest, I don’t like being made a fool of.’
‘No.’ Sean gave him a side-eye. Cheeky bugger.
‘No what?’
‘I didn’t see any arguments.’
‘A fight between Lucy and Hannah maybe?’
‘I didn’t witness anything like that.’ Air quotes. Now he was really taking the piss.
‘You said your mother picked you up. What did you do after that?’