‘He hasn’t been charged with anything, remember? And the fucker is saying it was the natural thing to do in the circumstances, given how you’ve been stalking him, and making up stuff about him. Poor lamb blames you for all the shit he’s had to put up with in the last week or so, but he’s a reasonable guy, he says, jaw jaw better than war war and all that, so he rings your doorbell, and you very kindly invite him in and all is going great until you threaten to castrate him with knives from your knife block which he says you had scattered all over a coffee table.’

Sadie paused.

‘That would be those knives, on that table, I imagine.’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ I said. ‘He was the one …’

Sadie continued.

‘And then, this is my favourite bit actually, Complainant states that you produced a kettle of boiling water and told him he’d be peeling burnt skin off his prick …’

‘Dick,’ I said. ‘That’s the word I used. That part is true, but the rest is lies. Well, he was here, okay, but I didn’t let him in, the door was open while I was putting out the bins, and he was waiting here when I came back in. And I never threatened to castrate him, just the boiling water. He was the one who … I told him to leave and he wouldn’t and …’

‘All right,’ Sadie said. ‘He let himself in. And you didn’t think to ring me, or any Garda station, to report this? You allowed Gill to be the one to do it?’

‘I didn’t think. I was going to tell you, and Lenihan, but it seemed kind of lame, and I let it sit for a while, only an hour or so, probably a bit more, while I thought about it. Anyway, I wasn’t able to … not immediately. I was in shock. But I was on the phone to Lenihan earlier, I was trying to tell him, and the arsehole hung up on me, and wouldn’t take my call when I tried to get him back. I’ve tried ringing him four times.’

‘He was probably taking a call from us in Coughlan’s Quay, telling him that Gill was in making a complaint about you. Jes-us, Finn, I know you say you were shocked but I can’t understand why you didn’t call 999 while he was here, or straight after he left. Why you didn’t call me, for Christ’s sake.’

‘I couldn’t get to my phone while he was here. He was blocking my way. And, after, I … I felt like a fool, the woman who cried wolf, after Gill had been interviewed for the second time and released, despite everything.’