I can’t help but shiver as it bubbles and whistles. Bernie’s description of what happened to Liam is all too fresh in my head. I turn to see Declan look around the flat again before sitting down at the dining table.

‘So, what have you heard about what happened?’ I ask him. ‘You said you had a lead.’

He stands up again. He’s on edge and it makes me nervous. I watch as he wanders to the window, pulls back the curtain and looks out for a while.

‘Yeah, well. I heard it was mistaken identity.’

This doesn’t marry with what Bernie told me. The attack was personal, exceptionally personal, and prolonged enough to know that any mistaken identity would have been noticed.

‘Who told you that?’

He taps the side of his nose. ‘Word on the street, you know. You’ve your sources, Ingrid, and I have mine.’

‘And who were they really looking for, then?’

I watch his face for any tells, any change in his demeanour or presentation. He stalls for a moment.

‘Someone from the next street over. Drug debt, I’m told. Had been warned to pay up lots of times and it seems people finally ran out of patience.’

‘Surely drug dealers would know who their own customers were?’

He blinks, his mouth hangs open just a little. ‘They never do the dirty work themselves, Ingrid. You know that. They send the heavies in.’

He pulls the curtain back over and sits down on the sofa. I hand him his cup of tea and sit opposite him.

‘I’m surprised that you didn’t come up. From what I’m told, you’re never far from a breaking story. A real Lois Lane,’ he says, blowing on the steaming tea and taking a sip.

‘I was working elsewhere,’ I say. ‘And, you know, even journalists get the night off every now and again.’

‘Elsewhere? That’s right. You were meeting your very own Superman,’ he smiles.

It’s a sad smile and then he breaks into song – a bastardised version of ‘My Perfect Cousin’ by The Undertones, replacing ‘cousin’ with ‘brother’.

‘I hope he treated you well,’ he says, and I can’t help but feel this is the real reason for Declan’s visit. To check up on what happened with Niall. Perhaps even to check if Niall is here with me.

‘It was a business meeting, for all intents and purposes. But he was very polite, yes.’

‘I suppose he had a lot to say about me?’ he asks.

‘No more than you said about him, but with respect, it’s not really about either of you. It’s about Kelly and what happened to her.’