By the time the Carneys had produced their identification documents and proofs of address and had signed the client contracts and the various authorisations that I needed so that I could get Deirdre’s medical records, most of an hour had gone by. They looked exhausted and I had started to sweat. Yes, Sean had initiated the complaint against Gill. Yes, he had told me that Deirdre was my sister. But I knew that he and Ann were going through this rigmarole because of me. Whether I hoped to forge a permanent connection with Deirdre or whether it was something else that was driving me, I had invented a civil case that no reasonable lawyer would have pursued. If it ended up being a wild goose chase, which it well might, I was afraid of what that might do to them.

But I was even more afraid of them changing their minds about pursuing the case, and of what that might do to me. Catching Gill, avenging Deirdre’s death, was starting to feel like the most important thing I might ever do.

And if I failed? I couldn’t bear to think about it.

‘We’ll be looking forward to a progress report,’ Sean said.

I won’t have news for a long time. Maybe never.

‘It’s going to take a bit of time, Sean,’ I said. ‘It might be a little while before I have anything major to say.’

‘Of course it will, love,’ Ann said.

‘I had a good chat with Jessica, though,’ I said. ‘She was helpful. And I visited Deirdre’s old school and met Aifric and Colm O’Donnell the art teacher.’

‘Did you meet the boss?’

‘Eoghan MacGiolla, the headmaster?’

‘That’s him,’ Sean said.

‘Yes. He told me he wasn’t working in the school when Deirdre was a pupil.’

‘No,’ Sean said. ‘But he was a neighbour. Used to live in Lee Valley Park. He knew Deirdre her whole life and then he got the big job in St Finbarr’s School and moved to Maryborough Heights and he couldn’t find one couple of hours in his day to come to her funeral.’

‘What has that to do with anything?’ Ann said. ‘Finn, Sean spends his time finding people to give out about and it does him no good.’

I was only half listening to Ann. I’d have to check my notes but I was nearly sure Eoghan MacGiolla had led me to believe that he had never met Deirdre. He told me that he didn’t know her parents either. Though maybe I had it wrong? Either way, there was no point mentioning it now. By agreement, I put a reminder in my diary to call the Carneys for an appointment to come and see me in two weeks. Meanwhile, if anything urgent cropped up requiring their input, I would contact them immediately.