“Let go; you’re hurting me!” I exclaimed. “I came because I love you, and I’m not going to let you go through this alone.” I stared at him defiantly. It had begun to rain more heavily again and he was wearing an old jumper and corduroy trousers that would soon be soaked. His dark curls were already plastered to his forehead and rain streamed down his face like tears. He didn’t appear to notice.

“But it’s all over between us. It has to be, don’t you see?” He had been shouting. Now I heard the hopelessness in his voice. “You must take the next train back to Dublin and go home. I insist.”

“You can’t force me. It’s a free country. I can come and go as I please. And I choose to stay near you, whether you want it or not.” I heard the wobble in my voice as I said this.

He sighed. “Don’t be a fool. The place is crawling with reporters. Someone is going to recognize you.”

“And if they do, so what? I’ll say what I said to your father: that I’m staying with friends in Dublin and thought I’d come out to show support for my pal Darcy. What’s so worrying about that? Nobody knows that we’re engaged.”

“But we’re not engaged anymore.” There was now desperation in his voice. “We can’t be. You have to see that. We can never marry. I won’t put you through this. I won’t have your life blighted the way mine will be. As soon as this business is over I’m going far away—Australia maybe, or South America.”

“Then I’m coming with you. I’ll start learning to throw the boomerang or brush up on my Spanish.”

He gave a brittle laugh and gripped my shoulders. “God, Georgie, do you think I don’t want you with me? Of course I do. I can’t bear the thought of being parted from you. But everywhere I go I’ll be known as the son of a murderer. I can’t allow that to happen to you. I won’t allow it.”

“You really believe that your father is guilty, do you?” I asked. “Has he confessed to the crime?”

He released me and turned away. “Not exactly. But the evidence is overwhelming.”

“Have you asked him outright if he did it?”

He was frowning at me. “He won’t talk to me, but as I said, the evidence is overwhelming. He and Mr. Roach had a loud argument and my father was heard to tell Roach that he’d kill him one day.”

“Lots of people threaten to kill each other,” I said. “So what other evidence is there?”