‘You were in my office. You commented on a picture of my mother acting in a Greek tragedy and asked who she was. In the capacity you saw her, she was a stage actor so I told you her stage name.’

‘You accept that Cecily Levin and Catriona West were one and the same woman, your mother. Catriona West? How come she wasn’t named as Catriona Maguire on her gravestone?’

‘Because my father was a bully and a brute. When he died, she reverted to her maiden name by deed poll. What’s her grave got to do with this mess? Why can’t you just let her rest in peace?’

‘Because one of the aliases given to Annie Boyd on Pebbles On The Beach was Richard Ezra and his address was listed as 66 Springwood Avenue. Turns out there’s only one house on Springwood Avenue so it wasn’t 66. But I dug a bit deeper and found the cemetery’s divided into plots. I visited Plot 66 and your mother’s grave’s there. Richard Ezra, Catriona West, Plot 66.’

Clay drilled her complete attention into Norma Maguire.

‘Richard Ezra. Catriona West. I guess you hated both of them with the same vengeance. Link his name to her address in death. It must’ve felt like banging their skulls together.’

‘How dare you say I equate Richard Ezra with my mother.’

‘I said it because you did it.’

Norma Maguire pushed the pictures of her mother and the image of her grave away from herself but Clay pushed them back into the middle of the table.

‘Please don’t do anything in this room other than answer my questions, Ms Maguire.’

Clay scrolled on her iPhone to the images sent to her by DS Gina Riley. She found the reconstructed graffiti from the basement wall and turned her iPhone round so that Norma Maguire could see it.

‘Read it to me, Norma, the words on the wall of your basement.’

‘And, so, off she floats to nowhere?’ She looked at Clay as if she was an alien.

Clay scrolled on and showed Norma Maguire the pile of dust and chippings.

‘Careless, very careless. Maybe too many other things to do in a microscopic time window?’

Clay rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward.

‘You’re madly in love with Francesca Christie, aren’t you? And she rejected you, didn’t she? You stalked Francesca Christie on Pebbles On The Beach, masquerading as a human rights lawyer called James Griffiths, didn’t you?’

Norma Maguire covered her face with both hands.

‘If you love Fran, Norma, tell me where we can find her. If you really love her, tell me if she’s dead or alive. And if she’s still alive, give her a fighting chance of staying alive. Look at me, Ms Maguire.’

Her hands sank slowly away from her face.