Had she threatened to take legal action to secure damages, Swallow asked. Werner shook his head. He had no knowledge of any such thing. It had never been mentioned. And he had never heard of such a thing in Irish law.

‘You left the restaurant around the same time that she did on the night she was attacked,’ Swallow insisted. ‘And you asked her for her home address. Isn’t that so?’

‘Yes, I probably did leave around the same time,’ Werner answered. ‘I leave at that time each night. I work a long and arduous day and I have a good head waiter and a trusted cashier to see the last of the customers finish their meals and pay their accounts.’

‘So why did you want Alice Flannery’s home address? Why did you want to know where she lived?’

‘I had decided finally to terminate her services. I paid her wages for the week, and I was going to write her a formal notice, ending her employment.’

‘So where did you go that evening, Stefan?’ Swallow asked. ‘Can you account for your movements?’

‘I will not answer that, Mr Swallow. The fact is that I had an assignation with a lady who is someone else’s wife, and I will not embarrass her by giving you any details about her. That is my private business and I intend to keep it that way.’

It was one of the oldest dodges in the book, Swallow reflected. He had encountered it on more than a few occasions in the course of his inquiries. Any married woman would be ruined in her reputation, and very likely banished to poverty if it were to be revealed that she had an involvement or attachment in contravention of her matrimonial vows. And no man with a vestige of decency about him would be forgiven for compromising a lady, even if the consequences were to be serious.

‘You know and I know, Stefan, that if you stick to that position it will turn against you. If you have an alibi for the night when Alice Flannery was attacked, and if it stands up, you’ll walk out of here a free man. But if you haven’t an alibi, if you can’t give me evidence that you were elsewhere, it will add very greatly to the case against you. I can assure you that if you give me the lady’s name I will make my inquiries very discreetly. Nobody but she, you and me will know.’

Werner shook his head.