‘It doesn’t matter,’ Dee said, although she’d been upset at the time. After her father’s death, the need to connect with his remaining relatives had been strong. But over time, she’d grown to accept that the reunion she longed for was unlikely to happen.

‘So,’ she said. ‘You’ve just moved to London?’

‘A three-month contract,’ Emer said. ‘I’ll be heading home again when it’s finished.’

‘What do you do?’

‘IT project management. It’s not the most interesting job in the world but it pays well, and when the chance came up to spend a few months in London, I thought, why the hell not? Once I was here, it made sense to reach out to you and see if we could meet up. I’ve read some of the stuff you’ve written, Dee. It’s really good.’

‘Thanks.’ Dee’s face flushed at the compliment. She would never tire of people telling her they liked what she wrote.

‘On your website it says you’re writing a book,’ Emer said. ‘That’s impressive.’

‘You’ve done your homework,’ Dee said. ‘I feel embarrassed you know more about me than I do about you.’

‘You don’t mind, do you? I was interested to know more about you, that’s all.’

‘Of course I don’t mind,’ Dee said. ‘There’s not much point having a website if no one’s going to look at it, right?’

‘Exactly.’ Emer smiled, and Dee realised it was the first time she’d done so since she’d got here. She seemed nervous. Which was normal, Dee supposed. Meeting up like this for the first time was a weird situation for both of them.

‘Anyway,’ Dee said. ‘Enough about me. Where are you living in London? How did you get into working in IT project management? Do you like it? Are you in a relationship? What sorts of things do you like doing?’

Realising too late she was turning this into an interview, not a conversation, she stopped with the questions.

‘Sorry,’ she said, smiling. ‘I didn’t mean to give you the third degree. I’m excited to meet you, that’s all.’

‘It’s fine,’ Emer said, ‘To tell the truth, Dee, I’m not great at talking about myself. I’d love to know more about the book you’re writing. Looking into a double murder, right?’

‘It was one of those stories that captured the public imagination,’ Dee said. ‘I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I got to write the inside story. Later, a publisher got in touch with a proposal for a book. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.’

In fact, several publishers had tried to sign Dee up and she’d been in the lucky position of getting to choose which publisher she wanted to work with.