She’d not really paid attention to next door until all the police showed up. Stan Keane was a nice man, friendly enough. No, she didn’t know him well. Hadn’t seen him for a few days.
Janet showed her a photograph of Greg Tandy. ‘What about this man?’
‘The one you arrested Monday. Saw him then. You were there.’ She nodded at Rachel.
‘That’s right.’
‘Before that, can you remember when you first saw him?’ Janet said.
The woman narrowed her eyes. ‘Today is Wednesday?’
‘Yes.’
She sucked her teeth, dazzling white, Janet noticed, set off by vivid-pink lipstick. ‘Friday. ’Cos I was heading out. Girls’ night.’ She seemed pleased that she could remember.
‘What time was this?’
‘Half seven,’ she said.
‘And where was this man?’ said Janet.
‘He was going out too, just ahead of me.’
Heading for the warehouse, wondered Janet? ‘Was he carrying anything?’
‘Not that I remember.’
‘Did you see him after that?’
‘Well, I didn’t surface until the Saturday afternoon. Serious hangover, well trollied,’ she laughed. ‘Saw him coming in. He’d a bag then,’ she smiled, ‘probably been to the gym. No way was I going to make it, I tell you. I usually go Saturday.’
‘A gym bag?’ Janet’s heart gave a kick in her chest.
‘Well, holdall.’
‘What colour?’
‘Blue.’ The girl laughed. ‘The things you remember!’
‘And after that?’
‘Didn’t see him until the police came.’ She lowered her voice, leaned closer. ‘What’s he done?’ Janet caught a whiff of fake tan.
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ Janet said. ‘Thanks for your help.’
‘The bag he had his gloves in,’ Rachel said as they crossed the road.
‘Sounds the same.’
‘But she reckons it was the Saturday and he didn’t have the bag on the Friday.’
‘That would have been too perfect,’ Janet said.
‘Maybe he left the bag somewhere on the Friday after the murders and went to fetch it on the Saturday.’
‘Why? Where?’
‘His house? Though I don’t know that Gloria would have let him over the threshold.’
At the house opposite Stanley Keane’s, a Polish man answered. He explained his nationality when he spelled out his name, which consisted mainly of consonants. His English was excellent and barely accented. He too had noticed Tandy, the new resident, but found it harder to recall dates and times. He worked twelve-hour shifts in a call centre and when he was home he was usually in bed or half asleep.
He thought some more and then said, ‘I did see him going into Wetherspoon’s. That would have been about eight o’clock, on my way home from the bus.’
‘Which day?’
‘Thursday or Friday.’
‘It would be a great help if you could remember which,’ Janet said.