A short while after our briefing, we go through to the interview room where two plain-clothes officers introduce themselves as Detective Inspector Jane McKenna and Detective Constable Mark Brennan.

McKenna takes the lead. ‘Grace, you’ve been arrested for the attempted murder of Thomas Ramsay. Can you explain your relationship to Mr Ramsay please?’

‘He’s my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.’

‘Recent ex?’

‘Very recent. About thirty seconds before… before what happened.’

‘And what did happen?’

I take a deep breath, then let it all out. ‘We had an argument in the house. I told him it was over. He launched himself at me and tried to attack me. He’s done that before, last week. This time I got out of the way. I decided I had to run, because he’s dangerous. So I got into my car and went to drive away, but he threw himself in front of it to make it look as if I’d hit him.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘Because he’s crazy. He’s manipulative.’

‘Let’s go back to the beginning,’ McKenna says. ‘We’re looking at attempted murder here. Were you driving the car that hit Thomas Ramsay?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you drive that car at Thomas Ramsay deliberately?’

‘No. I was trying to drive away. He threw himself in front of the car.’

‘Did you intend to kill Thomas Ramsay?’

‘No.’

‘Did you intend to injure or otherwise harm Thomas Ramsay?’

I swallow. ‘No.’

The interview turns clinical, as if the officers are only keen to cover the basics. There’s no opportunity to tell my side of the story. Barely ten minutes later, the interview is terminated and I’m taken back to my cell.

50

It’s a few hours later when they finally take me in for a second interview. They can keep me in for twenty-four hours, apparently. More, if they get authorisation to do so.

When the interview starts, McKenna briefly covers what we spoke about in the first interview, then asks me if I still agree with all of those statements.

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘But I want the opportunity to tell you the background. My side of the story. I want you to know who Tom is, what he’s done to me. I’m not the criminal here. I’m the victim. I promise you.’

‘That’s what this interview is for, Grace,’ McKenna says. ‘But it’s also for us to put some other questions to you based on things we’ve investigated and discovered in the interim.’

‘Okay,’ I say, nodding furiously. ‘Good.’

‘What was the catalyst behind your breakup with Thomas Ramsay, Grace?’

I let out a large sigh. ‘Jesus. Well, he’s crazy. He’s a liar, a psychopath. He’s manipulative. He attacked me, last week. He tried to attack me again today when I told him things were over between us.’

‘Okay. Do you have any evidence of this?’

‘There are recordings,’ I say, suddenly remembering the equipment I bought. ‘Two pens. There’s one on the side in the kitchen, and one in the living room. They’ve got microphones and things in them. They’re set to record. They’ll have picked up what happened before I ran outside. The argument. The things we both said. Everything will be on those.’