But eventually they ended up visiting Laura Haines.

It wasn’t Michael Feather who paid the call. If it had been, maybe Richard Culhane’s name would have come to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions rather sooner than it did.

Laura was interviewed by a uniformed female guard whose male partner sat silently in the kitchen and looked around as though he had never seen a house like this before. Laura had been studying for her first radiology exam of the academic year. On the black marble of the breakfast counter her textbooks lay open. There was also a ring binder, a pencil case coated in burgundy fluff, and a cup of tea, now cold.

‘And were you at this Harry’s nightclub on the night of August 31st?’ the guard asked Laura.

‘Yeah, I was,’ Laura said.

‘Did you see anything that you think might help us find out how Conor died?’

‘No,’ Laura said. ‘I came home early. I had a headache.’

‘How did you get home?’

‘My boyfriend took me. We got a taxi.’

‘And what’s your boyfriend’s name?’

‘Richard.’

‘Surname?’

‘Culhane. His name is Richard Culhane.’

‘And what time did he take you home at?’

‘It was, like, two o’clock in the morning.’

When the gardaí had left, Laura went upstairs to her room and asked God for forgiveness.

The guard who questioned Laura was not aware that she had once gone out with Conor Harris. Michael Feather knew this, obviously: he had learned about Laura during his talks with Brendan Harris. But the information hadn’t trickled down to the cops who did the routine interviewing. So what happened was this: in over forty interviews, Richard Culhane’s name surfaced only twice. In Laura’s interview, it might as well have never been mentioned at all.

Yes, Laura Haines lied to the gardaí to protect her boyfriend. She acted, she later claimed, out of a conviction of Richard’s innocence. This was a lie, of course. Laura knew Richard was guilty, and she knew he would be caught. Her lie was a delaying tactic. She needed to keep Richard’s guilt to herself long enough to find out if he was sorry.

Laura Haines, remember, was the only person who saw the fight in its entirety. She was also the only person who understood why it happened and what it meant.

I’m surprised that Laura’s lying to the guards didn’t become more central to the case. The lawyers involved chose not to make an issue of it. Richard’s refusal to come forward – this became an issue. But Laura was never charged with obstruction of justice. She was never seen, by either the defence or the prosecution, as anything other than a material witness.

I find this strange. I find it strange because I know (or suspect) how Laura feels about Conor’s death. She feels that, although she never threw a punch, she is as responsible as Richard and Barry and Stephen and the various anonymous others who joined in the fight for the fact that Conor died.