Thankfully, she had a slightly unusual surname: Wade. If she’d been called Murphy I could be here till morning and never find her. She showed up on a gratifying number of searches as living in Cork. Even better, she worked in the accounts department at the Opera House.

I logged out. I was fed up with the former Education Officer, who could probably add nothing to what I already knew. It was more comforting to review the progress I had made. Unexpectedly, earlier that day, I had gained potentially useful information: that the coaster Deirdre had hidden away had come from a bedroom. Ann Carney was sure that Deirdre had never been to Muskerry Castle.

But what if she had?

11

My assistant poked her head, and then her ample form, around the door, a Danish pastry with a bite taken out of it in her right hand.

‘You’ve been diligent,’ Tina said. ‘In over the weekend and working from home too by the looks of it. I’ve piles of work waiting for me before the day starts. I was mighty impressed for about two minutes until I remembered that the Film Festival is on. You’re obviously only working the weekend so’s you can doss off loads during the week.’

I laughed.

‘It’s kind of to do with the festival,’ I said. ‘But there’s more to it than that. Close the door and sit for five minutes. I’ll give you a quick rundown.’

I walked her through my initial meeting with Sean and told her the results of my weekend researches. At the end of it, Tina said ‘Feckit, Finn, that’s got to be the dodgiest case you’ve ever taken on. Exciting, though. What did Gabriel say about it?’

‘Well I haven’t exactly told him. I half mentioned a new case to him on Saturday but didn’t give him the details.’

‘Hmmm. You have to tell him. The sooner the better. He might say no.’

Tina was right. I had to tell Gabriel about the case. But I hadn’t told her about Deirdre’s connection to me, and I hadn’t figured out yet how I could get away with not telling Gabriel either. Though part of me knew that I should, most of me wanted to stay silent. If he knew anything about the case, the question would be sure to come up: why in the name of God was I taking it on? If I answered truthfully, he’d be bound to say that I was too close, and that my judgement was impaired. More than likely, he’d demand that I hand the file over to a colleague who’d see it immediately for what it was, a doomed pursuit that made sense only to me, and the case would be quietly dropped. No, I couldn’t tell Gabriel.