‘I work in … Don’t think you can soften me up with this chit-chat.’

‘I didn’t think I could.’

‘It’s still no. I am not going to talk to you. And I’d like you to leave. Now.’

‘You’re not the only one, Rhona. Gill hurt you, I know he did, or I think he did, at least. But there was another girl, from Cork. Gill met her in 1998, when he was visiting the Film Festival. I represent her parents. She died, in January, earlier this year. It was suicide.’

‘Suicide?’

‘She was raped, had a nervous breakdown and never recovered. She alluded to Gill in her suicide note. Said that the academy mightn’t like him so much if they knew what he was really like.’

I paused.

‘I went to your old school today, spoke to Sister Bernadette. She told me about you, about how Gill chose you for the film role, how you changed schools afterwards. That was when I knew for sure. Her description of you. It was like listening to Deirdre’s parents.’

‘Deirdre?’

‘Deirdre Carney, that was her name.’

Rhona sat at the table again and dropped her head, and I couldn’t see her face.

‘Anything you say to me would be between us, Rhona. Off the record. I promise that I won’t tell anyone else, not without your authority.’

She looked at me then.

‘Off the record? Bullshit,’ she said. ‘You want me to talk to the Gardaí, I know you do, and I can’t do it. I won’t.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘You going to the Gardaí is not what this is about. I’m telling the truth. An off the record conversation with you would be extremely valuable to the work I’m doing for Deirdre’s parents. You could tell me about Gill, about how he operates. You might be able to point me in the direction of new evidence for Deirdre’s case.’

Silence.

‘Do you want to think about it? I could go away and come back?’

It was my last try. I wasn’t going to hound the woman any more than I had already. Unless Rhona agreed to talk, I would let her be. She took a long time before she spoke again.

‘All right. I’ll tell you my story. Off the record. But no more questions. And no recording. I talk, you listen, and then you go. Take it or leave it.’

‘I’m grateful for anything you say, any way you want to say it,’ I said.

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