There has been a house of correction at the Bridewell since 1731. The old wall of the city stands to the rear of the station and the river flows past the front door. But if Joey O’Connor felt hemmed in by the landscape or the weight of history, he was showing no sign of it.

‘This is snug,’ he said. ‘And we’re in out of the rain, I suppose.’

I gave Joey’s solicitor, Mark Henchy, an ‘is this guy for real?’ look.

‘Joey, Ms Fitzpatrick is here at your request. She’s a busy person. Maybe you could tell her why you asked for her. It’s something I’m curious about myself, I must say.’

We were in a small interview room, the three of us. Ruth Joyce was outside. All she had said was that Joey’s solicitor had promised his client’s full co-operation with her investigation – provided he had a chance to talk to me first. She didn’t know what it was about. Neither, it seemed, did the solicitor.

‘You don’t have to meet Joey,’ Ruth had said. ‘There’s no obligation whatsoever. But, if you like, I could get someone from Victim Support to talk to you to help you decide?’

‘I’ll be grand.’

Joey was smirking to himself and glancing back and forth between his solicitor and me. Mark Henchy didn’t do much criminal defence work. Quietly spoken and unfailingly polite, he was probably the O’Connor family solicitor, possibly even a friend of Joey’s parents.

‘Joey,’ he said. ‘Come on.’

‘Okay, okay.’

Joey looked at me.

‘I want a deal,’ he said.

‘That isn’t the sort of thing you …’ Mark Henchy said.

‘What kind of deal?’ I asked simultaneously.

Mark looked at me in surprise.

‘I want you to drop the charge against me,’ Joey said.

‘I’m sure what Joey means is that a sum of compensation will be available,’ Mark said.

I kept my eyes on his client.

‘Doesn’t sound like much of a deal,’ I said. ‘My car was worth about five euros.’

‘True,’ Joey said. ‘I did you a favour by burning that piece of shit.’

Mark Henchy put his head in his hands. I waited for Joey to talk. The mistake I’d made with Carmel, asking the wrong question at the wrong time, I wasn’t going to make again.

‘You’re looking for info,’ Joey said. ‘If the charge disappears, I’ll tell you what I know.’

‘Talk first,’ I said. ‘If the information is of use to me, I’ll certainly consider it.’

‘Write it down,’ Joey said, addressing his solicitor. ‘If my info is good, she says I’m out the gap.’

He turned back to me.

‘It’s good,’ he said.