They walked in silence, past the artisan bakery and Declan’s flat above, past the theatre with its boarded-up doors and soot-stained façade and into Victoria Park. They followed the path as it sloped towards the lake, and found a bench.

‘Are you still working?’ asked Claudia, fully expecting Karin to say no. She had made no effort to cover up the acne breakouts and dark shadows beneath her eyes. Her hair was pushed into a woollen hat and the matching scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck as if it alone kept up her head.

‘I can’t manage long shifts but, you know, we’re getting by,’ she replied. ‘Thanks so much for the grant money. You never did send me the forms, but I’m happy to fill them out whenever you like.’

‘It’s not necessary,’ Claudia said. She had gladly handed over the cash. She was a good person at heart. ‘Was it enough?’

‘Enough to take the pressure off, and right when we needed it,’ Karin said. She took a shaky breath. ‘I thought the anniversary was going to be bad enough, but when I read the findings … I lost it completely.’

‘How so?’

‘Everyone had been blaming Declan, saying it was his incompetence or his arrogance that had caused the fire, and I believed them. And sure, Dec did have this way about him. Too confident for his own good.’ She managed a weak smile as she stared out across the lake. The smile vanished. ‘I should have defended him, but I looked at the photographs of the other victims, I read their stories, and I hated my brother. I really hated him. And now I hate myself.’

‘You believed what you were being told. It’s understandable.’

‘Not to me, it isn’t. He was my big brother and I looked up to him. He was the one who encouraged me to leave Donegal and see the world, you know. Take chances and live my best life. I backpacked across Asia, climbed volcanoes in New Zealand, and got very seasick once on a fishing boat in Papua New Guinea.’ Karin hunched her shoulders, pushing her chin into the folds of her scarf. She was aware that she bore no resemblance to the young adventurer she described. ‘I would never have taken those first steps if it hadn’t been for Declan. He believed in me, and I should have believed in him.’

‘I’m no counsellor, but it can’t be good for your mental health to torture yourself like this.’

‘What else am I to do? There are huge chunks of Declan’s life that are a blank, and I don’t mean just on the night of the fire. I keep thinking back to what you said about him being involved with someone. I had to go and see her.’