Niall sounds annoyed. The tone of his voice makes my skin prickle.

‘As I said, something has happened. Something big. Look, I’d rather not talk about it over the phone. Is there any chance we could meet up?’

‘After nine on a Saturday night? Everywhere will be rammed. We’ll be shouting over the noise,’ he says. ‘Why don’t you just tell me?’

I shake my head, even though he won’t be able to see me anyway. ‘No, really. It’s not the kind of news you break over the phone.’

I realise I don’t want to risk his reaction attracting the attention of his parents, or anyone else. This is not the kind of news he will be able to keep to himself once he hears it. For a moment I wonder if I’m making a mistake in trying to get him on board. I know so little about him, but I have to trust my gut and ideally, I’d love to get to the bottom of this before Ryan splashes the news all over the Internet with his own coverage.

‘You could come to my place?’ I say.

There’s a pause. ‘Your place? Are you sure?’ he asks.

‘Strictly business,’ I say, trying to keep my voice light.

‘That’s a shame,’ he says. ‘But I get it. Big story. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not in any danger or anything?’

The concern in his voice is heart-warming.

‘I’m fine. I’m here and I’m locked in,’ I say.

‘Okay, well, let me know your address and I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’

I tell him where I live and he starts to say his goodbyes. I’m about to end the call, when I hear an ‘Oh, Ingrid …’ echo down the line. I put the phone back to my ear.

‘Yes?’ I say.

‘If Declan does call back, if he shows up, don’t let him in. He was in bad form leaving here earlier and he’d already had a few drinks by then. God knows what state he’ll be in by now. Best give him the chance to sober up first.’

The thought of Declan Heaney arriving drunk and angry at my door makes me feel sick.

Chapter Forty-Two

Ingrid

‘Jamesy is dead?’

The look on Niall’s face is one of genuine shock. In fact, he has gone quite pale.

He hasn’t been here long. A matter of minutes, in fact. He arrived twenty minutes after our call, and I was relieved when the door buzzer went to see that it was him and not his brother on the screen, waving at the CCTV camera.

He’d smiled awkwardly when he arrived. ‘I’m not sure I can be any help to you, but I’m guessing the something big isn’t a good something big?’