I took them through a series of slides on the evidence that I had found linking Gill and Deirdre. They weren’t convinced. I clicked through to the final slide. It contained just one word:

• DNA

‘The lab report came back yesterday.’

‘I thought you said there was little or no outlay,’ Dermot said.

‘I paid for it on my credit card,’ I said. ‘It’s a private expense.’

Dermot’s eyes narrowed.

‘And?’ Gabriel said. ‘Have you a result?’

‘Deirdre Carney’s DNA is on the drinks coaster. There are two other female DNA samples on it. Not mine – the control sample I gave didn’t appear on the coaster. It may be cross-contamination from a hotel employee, or possibly a classmate: she hid the coaster in a mechanical instrument box that she used at school. But there’s male DNA too. And it matches the male DNA on the pen that Gill used to sign my programme at the Opera House.’

Silence.

‘It’s inadmissible,’ Dermot said. ‘And a breach of his constitutional rights. Not to mention being unethical and an invasion of Gill’s privacy. DNA from a pen he used. Utterly out of order. You could be struck off for this.’

‘I told you, Dermot. It was a private expense. I never had any intention of using these results against Gill. But the DNA sample I get via discovery in the course of the civil proceedings will be an entirely different matter. If it ever gets that far. I’m inclined to think that Gill’s legal team might be keen to enter into early settlement talks with me.’

‘It’s not enough,’ Dermot said. ‘Even if we accept all that you have to say, even if we accept that Jeremy Gill sexually assaulted this unfortunate girl …’

‘It was rape and her name was Deirdre Carney,’ I said.

‘Okay, okay, even if we accept, for the sake of argument, the alleged rape of Deirdre Carney deceased,’ Dermot said. ‘It was fifteen years ago. How on earth can Jeremy Gill be said to have caused her death?’

‘Just a moment, please.’

I went to the phone on the side table and rang Tina’s extension.

‘We’re ready for the medical records.’

‘You have medical records?’ Gabriel said.