Richie Patterson was facing them as they entered the group room. The chairs they were to be seated in were the closest to the door – as per health and safety regulations. He didn’t look at them as they sat down, and Maggie noticed him fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt.
‘Hi, Mr Patterson. My name is DC Jamieson and this is my colleague, DC Kat Everett. Did Ms Humphrey or anyone explain why we’re here?’
He grunted and mumbled something incoherently.
‘Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.’
‘I said, yes. But you’re wasting your time. I haven’t done anything.’ He looked Maggie in the eye. ‘Oh, you’re not bad looking, what did you say your name was?’
Kat leaned forward and Maggie touched her hand before she spoke.
‘DC Jamieson, and we’re not here to talk about me. I’d like to know why you seem to have taken such an interest in the murders of two females, Richie.’
‘Do you think I was involved? Hah! What a joke. Call yourself detectives! I haven’t done fuck all. Have you seen the security in this shithole? The only privacy I get is when I go to the loo, and even then, I’m not sure those perverts aren’t looking at me.’
‘Interesting choice of words. Remind me again why you’re here?’
‘Do you think you’re clever, DC Jamieson? I was stitched up, that’s why I’m here. What’s that got to do with you? I did my time. Now I am stuck in here until they find me another place or—’ He stopped and licked his lips.
‘Or what?’
‘Or I do something that lands me back in prison.’ He sat back and smirked.
‘Enough of the bullshit. Have you ever met or did you know Tracy Holloway or Kelsey Gilbey?’ Kat tapped on the table, her impatience obvious.
He looked past them. ‘Never. Look, I haven’t been with a woman since I was convicted. I’m getting tired of being blamed for shit I ain’t done. Not worth the fucking hassle.’
‘Are you working at the moment?’ Maggie wanted to calm the situation so returned to basic questions, hoping to catch him off-guard.
‘Nope. Who the fuck is going to hire me?’
He made a valid point, but Maggie knew it depended on how honest he was in applications. She’d seen many sex offenders and violent offenders land jobs that were not appropriate because some employers were lax in doing the proper background checks.
‘I hear what you’re saying but it doesn’t mean we aren’t going to check.’
‘Knock yourself out. If you find someone who’s hiring, pass on my details, will ya? Is there anything else? I have a session to attend and I’m not about to receive a warning because you lot wasted my time.’
‘I think we’re done here, unless my colleague has any further questions for you?’ Maggie looked at Kat and she shook her head. ‘Thanks for your time; we’ll be in touch if we think of anything else.’
‘Yeah. You do that.’ Richie stood and headed for the door, mumbling expletives as he left Maggie and Kat in the room.
‘I don’t think he’s our guy, and like he said, everything checks out in terms of the timeline. I’m still going to ask Amie to send the CCTV footage to Bethany. Better safe than sorry.’
‘Despite his little outbursts, he was pretty calm throughout the interview. The details of the crimes, from what I know about them, don’t seem to fit his MO. Even if he had escalated to murder, there’s no sexual element to the offences.’
Amie Humphrey returned just then. ‘Did you get everything you need?’
The pair stood. ‘Yes, thanks so much for your time. I’m going to ask one of my team to contact you about the CCTV; we’d just like to cover all bases.’
‘Sure. I’ll let my manager know and we can take it from there.’ Amie escorted Maggie and Kat out. As they were getting in the car, Maggie looked up and noticed Richie staring at her from the window. He was trying to intimidate her, but she dealt with people like this every day and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She waved and his smile turned into a scowl.
‘What an arsehole.’ She sat down in the car and looked at her watch. It was just coming up to noon. ‘I feel like we’re missing something. None of them really fit the profile, but that Ian McNally, there’s definitely something about him that doesn’t sit right.’
‘Well, we can do a bit more digging and see if there’s anything you can pull him on, or maybe keep an eye on his movements.’
Maggie nodded. Time was running out. They would need to trawl through the information to see if something stood out. The Raven case had knocked her confidence and Maggie feared the answer wouldn’t be obvious, and the implications of that could be devastating.