‘As I was saying, my investigations have led me to the inescapable conclusion that Jeremy Gill is a serial sexual predator. I base this mainly on two statements. The first is from Gill’s former friend, the writer Christopher Dalton.’

I clicked into a photo of Dalton.

‘The second is from this woman.’

‘Who is she?’ Gabriel said. ‘Her face looks familiar.’

‘Her name is Rhona Macbride. She was murdered last week, the day after I met her, after she’d told me that she’d been brutally raped, beaten up and put in fear of her life while she was still a schoolgirl. She acted in Gill’s first film. That’s how he got to know her.’

I clicked back into the photo of Jeremy Gill.

‘He’s the one who raped her, and he’s a suspect in her murder. I need hardly add that this is highly confidential. You can’t tell anyone outside this room any of this.’

I paused.

‘Any questions so far?’

‘If any of this is true, which I very much doubt, I must say,’ Dermot Lyons said, ‘Where’s the civil case you’re supposedly pursuing? Any murder, any alleged murder, is a matter for the Gardaí. And as far as I’m aware from the news reports, it’s a drug-related mugging. The idea that …’

‘I agree that Rhona’s death is a Garda matter,’ I said. ‘But the civil case that I’ve been, yes, Dermot, investigating is a wrongful death suit by the parents of a deceased woman, Deirdre Carney, against Jeremy Gill. She died in January this year. She committed suicide following––’

‘Preposterous! No claim!’ Dermot said, thumping both his fists on the mahogany.

‘Be quiet, and listen, Dermot, if you are at all interested in what I have to say.’ I made a point of looking at Gabriel before I bent to scribble in my notebook.

‘Sorry, I just wanted to note these repeated interruptions.’

Dermot blushed an ecclesiastical purple, took a deep breath, shifted in his chair.

‘Go on, please, Finn,’ Gabriel said. ‘Though I fervently hope you haven’t spent office funds on this extremely speculative case.’

‘I haven’t. Very little. I did a few searches in the CRO and the Land Registry using my office access code. A tiny outlay. My intention was to reimburse the expense on my return to work, if you decide not to support the case further. My hope, of course, is that you will see that there is a legitimate cause of action, and that the firm will opt to fund the case, in the usual way, on the basis that the costs will be recoverable ultimately from Gill.’

Before either of them could respond, I clicked into a bullet-pointed summary:

• Workshop Photograph
• Muskerry Castle
• Dr Lorcan Lucey