‘Naw, all’s grand,’ Tina said. ‘But on the new case, first of all, and easiest to find, Joey O’Connor is definitely working at the family car sales business. I have a printout of the address and the location for you back at the office. I talked to him on the phone and he said he’d be there till six this evening if you want to call out. He assumed you’d be going to see him about buying a new car, and I didn’t bother correcting him.’

‘Good woman. Anything else? The jury boys?’

‘Not so good. Neither school would give out their addresses without authorisation. I did a general search. There are about ten million Patrick McCarthys, as you can imagine. But I was able to find Lorcan Lucey, or somebody I think is the same guy. He’s working up in UCC in the philosophy department as a lecturer or tutor or something. He’s on their web page anyway. Here’s a printout: same guy, right?’

‘Looks it. Okay, let’s abandon Patrick and concentrate on Lorcan. By the way, I realised earlier that I should’ve asked you to do up written authorities for the Carneys for Deirdre’s education and medical records. Prepare drafts, would you, please, Tina, and we can refine them before tomorrow afternoon. They are coming in, aren’t they?’

‘Yep, half two, it’s in your diary,’ Tina said.

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Now please eat your lunch.’

We walked back to the office together. Up in my room, I gave Tina a few more files to work on and threw myself into my chair.

‘You’ve done loads, Tina,’ I said. ‘I’ll race through my messages and do a couple of attendance notes on court this morning. But then I’ll scoot off, see if I can get anywhere with the school and Joey O’Connor later this evening. If you’ve time, you might see if you can get Lorcan Lucey’s work number and text it to me.’

‘Got it already, needless to say, being the wonderful secretary that I am.’

‘You are the best, and so modest too,’ I said.

‘Modest to a fault, girl,’ Tina said.

She was laughing as she left the room.