‘She was . . . a good sister. . . . After my father was killed she . . . she was a pillar to the whole family. To me mam especially. She worked every hour of the day and most of the night to help keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. And she feared the lord. She prayed every mornin’ and every night.’

‘She cleaned the church and worked at the restaurant. Is that what you mean when you say she worked all those hours?’ Swallow asked.

Flannery nodded.

‘She wanted to make the most of herself. She was getting trainin’ and experience in the restaurant. She said she’d go on to be a cook, maybe in a big house or some place. She’d have been a good cook. She was always readin’ about cooking and new sorts of food in bits she’d get out of the Freeman’s Journal.’

That explained the cookery books on the fireside shelf in the Flannery cottage, Swallow reckoned.

‘She was an intelligent girl. A good reader?’

‘The Loreto sisters said she was at top o’ the class and she should stay with the schoolin’. The brothers over at Synge Street said the same of me, you know. They said I could get into the university or even be a priest if I wanted.’

He laughed bitterly.

‘To think o’ me as a priest. Imagine. Just pipe dreams for people like us, Mr Swallow. Pipe dreams. That’s why, after the triumph of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, I want a new Ireland, where people like Alice and me can get our chances.’

‘Sometimes people throw their chances away too, Dan,’ Swallow said. ‘You’ve a chance to help Alice in the only way you can now. That’s by telling us anything you know about who might have harmed her. You can start by telling us about this Father Cavendish.’

Flannery frowned.

‘He wasn’t like a priest should be to her, if you ask me. When she started working with me mam, cleanin’ the church, he started takin’ her aside for private conversations. I saw them once sittin’ on a bench in the church grounds. An hour later when I passed by again they were still there. I asked her later what they were talkin’ about and she said Father Cavendish was tellin’ her he could help her to get on in life. I think he might have fixed her up with the job in the New Vienna. He lives well does Father Cavendish. Fancy restaurants wouldn’t be any novelty to him.’

‘That isn’t anything to be upset about. Priests have powerful connections,’ Swallow said. ‘Maybe he was being genuinely helpful.’

Flannery shook his head.