‘Well, I put her in for it, nominated her. She had to write an essay about why she wanted to do it and, needless to say, she was selected. She was my first really excellent student. I was fairly new to teaching when she started in First Year, and it was great to see her progress. I had high hopes for her, wanted to do what I could to help her on her way.’

‘Sounds like she was a favourite.’

‘Favourite? Oh yes, you could say that. We’re not supposed to have them but we all do. It was easy to love Deirdre Carney.’

‘Love? Isn’t that an odd choice of word?’

‘It is if you want it to be,’ Colm said.

He paused.

‘Or it could be the most normal thing in the world.’

Jesus Christ. Was he confessing to a relationship with Deirdre?

‘I spoke to Jessica Murphy, Deirdre’s old school friend too. Do you remember her? She said that they all thought you were in love with Deirdre,’ I said.

He laughed.

‘Hardly. I’ve never been in love with a girl, or a woman, in my life. I’m gay. Not that I’d be broadcasting it in this place, mind you. It’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” around here, as you can imagine, though I’m sure that everyone knows by now. No, Deirdre was like a younger sister, or a daughter, to me. And she was a student of mine. It would be unthinkable to cross that boundary with her, or with any of my students, male or female.’

I believed him. I liked him too, had done from the moment he’d walked in the door. Maybe I could be more direct with him than I had been with Jessica Murphy.

‘Tell me anything you know about Deirdre and Jeremy Gill,’ I said.

After a pause, he spoke.

‘Confidentially?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

The time might come when I would have to ask him to drop the confidentiality. But for now, yes, anything he told me was confidential.

‘There’s something not quite right about that guy Gill,’ Colm said. ‘He’s flavour of the month and super-successful and all that, but from what I saw of him during Film Festival ’98, he’s a complete shit and a fucking pervert too.’

I hadn’t expected anything this explosive from him. It took me a moment to respond.

‘That’s a damning verdict,’ I said. ‘Did you see him do something?’