‘Ingrid!’ Ryan calls from the depths of his office, the door wide open to the newsroom.

The tone of his voice is enough to let me know that he is in a shit mood. Dropping my bag at my desk, I grab my notebook, take a deep breath and plaster a fake confident smile on my face.

‘You called, boss?’ I say, sitting down opposite him, my tone light.

‘Were you up in Creggan this morning?’ he asks.

I see no reason to lie. ‘Yes. I went for a walk around. Just to get a sense of the place again. See if any of the old neighbours are still around.’

‘And you got talking with Declan Heaney?’ His face is serious.

‘Jesus! Word doesn’t take long to spread around here, does it. Are you having me followed?’ I say, and I’m joking. Mostly.

Ryan doesn’t reply, just keeps his expression neutral. Clearly, he is not in one of his more playful moods today.

‘But yes, I did get talking with Declan. I bumped into him when I was walking up Broadway. We went for a cup of tea and a chat. You know it was him and his brother who found Kelly’s body …’

I think to the look on Declan’s face as I asked him how well he still remembered it. His eyes had glazed over a little. His face darkened as if he were watching some awful movie clip that only he could see.

‘You don’t ever forget something like that,’ he’d told me.

‘Declan Heaney doesn’t keep well,’ Ryan says, sitting back in his chair and looking at me. ‘You know that, Ingrid. He’s fond of the drink and smokes. Likes to get himself in trouble. Scan our archives – you’ll see he was a frequent flyer in the courts a few years back.’

‘Well, I imagine I might be the same if I’d gone through the trauma he did at ten years old,’ I tell him. ‘But you’ve said yourself, it was a few years ago now, and it was petty stuff, wasn’t it?

‘Look, he’s an old school friend. We were in the same class and we used to pal around with each other when we were small. We chatted over tea and I bought him a couple of sausage rolls because he didn’t look like he’d had a decent meal in a couple of days. If you’re not happy about me taking the time out of my working day to help someone who clearly needed it, I’ll make up my hours this evening. Just like I always work over my hours anyway.’ I look directly at him, at how his blue eyes narrow.

He rubs his chin.