Page 125 of To Hell With It

‘Yes.’

‘And sometimes no one would be home?’ he continued.

‘Yes, I remember all of that. What about it?’ I said impatiently.

‘Do you remember when we went downstairs to the shop to steal some biscuits because you were hungry?’

‘Not this again – why is this so important, Niall?’

‘But you remember that, don’t you?’

‘Stealing biscuits? Yes, vaguely. I told you this before.’

‘And when we got down there, we heard the shop door open?’

‘Hold on, how old were we?’

‘We were eight.’

‘We were eight? That’s a long time ago to remember such specific details – how do you remember this stuff?’

‘Because of what we saw.’

‘What do you mean, Niall? What did we see?’

‘My dad.’

‘We saw Mr O’Callaghan?’

‘Yes.’

‘OK.’ I stared at Niall blankly.

‘We saw my dad and he ran into the shop, laughing.’ Niall paused to check I was listening. ‘He had his video camera.’

‘And?’

‘And. God, I don’t think I can say this. I’m sorry, Pearl.’

‘Just say it, Niall. It’s doing my head in. I want to know.’

‘We were crouched down behind the counter because we didn’t want him to see us stealing the biscuits. He was always so strict about me taking stuff from the shop without paying.’

I stayed silent.

‘And then she came in right after him, giggling her head off.’

‘Who? Mrs O’Callaghan?’

‘No. Maggie Ryan.’

‘Maggie Ryan?’ I repeated.

‘And then he pulled his dick out and she started … you know…’

‘Jesus.’ I did know.

‘He was filming it.’ Niall shook his head as if he was trying to shake out the memory. ‘I pushed you into the cupboard under the counter and shut the door because I didn’t want you to see them – but you did, only for a second but you saw them.’

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