His father declares he has lost his appetite. Stands up and leaves his plate on the table for someone else to tidy away.

‘I’m going for a walk,’ he says, grabbing his coat.

They all want to ask him if he means he’s going to the pub. Declan hopes not. It’s been years since his da was drunk, but memories of those days have never left him.

‘I wonder if she wants to speak to me,’ Niall says eventually as the three remaining members of the Heaney family pick at their plates.

Their dinner is cold now. Nowhere near as appetising as it was.

Declan says nothing. He doesn’t want his brother anywhere near Ingrid. He has already decided that he isn’t going to tell Niall that he has her number saved in his phone, or that she did actually mention wanting to talk to him. He doesn’t lie, just gives a non-committal half nod and says no more.

‘I always liked her,’ Niall says, a wolfish look on his face.

Declan tries to remember when he started hating his brother.

Chapter Sixteen

Ingrid

Monday, 21 October 2019

I had double-locked my front door and put a chair in front of it. I’d also locked my own bedroom door, but none of that had helped me sleep particularly well. I’d never realised before how noisy my flat can be. I wonder how I’d ever been able to tune out all the rattles and creaks before, not to mention the noise of the traffic outside.

I have a coffee before I leave for work, and then stop and grab another coffee – extra large – on the way in. If I could source an intravenous caffeine drip and attach it directly to my veins, I absolutely would. At least, I console myself, it’s a Monday and, as the song says, Mondays are manic. Hopefully, a busy day will keep me distracted from the waves of exhaustion that are just waiting to wash over me.

My head hurts, so I rifle through my drawer to find the strip of paracetamol that has been there for the last six or seven months. I’m not one to reach for pills, but these are desperate times.

Once I’ve logged in to my computer, I check my emails. There’s the usual Monday morning stuff. Court lists, press releases on upcoming events, a round robin from the police press office detailing any incidents of note over the weekend. My stomach tightens when I see a paragraph headlined ‘Break-in at city centre apartment complex.’

Police are looking for information about a break-in at a flat in the Riverside Complex, which took place sometime between the hours of 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday evening.

The female resident of the apartment returned home to find her front door open and threatening graffiti sprayed on the walls of her bedroom. Nothing appears to have been taken in the break-in.