I took the pen from him and held it delicately by its end.

‘You enjoyed the festival in ’98?’ I asked.

‘Fantastic,’ he said, smiling broadly, but colder now. Though he remained standing beside me, he had moved on: my allotted five minutes of charm had come to an end.

‘You would have met Deirdre Carney. Such a pity about her,’ I said.

‘Who?’ Gill said, smiling still but with an almost imperceptible movement in his eyes that led me to believe he knew exactly who I was talking about.

‘She died in January, but I figure you would have met her during the ’98 festival,’ I said. ‘She was on the youth jury. Championed your film. Look, here’s a photo.’

I had the page marked. I flipped it open and held it in front of Gill.

He inclined his head slightly.

‘I don’t remember meeting her. She was ill?’

‘Mentally ill for a long number of years. Since 1998, actually.’

‘I’m sad to hear that,’ Gill said without a pause. ‘Are you a relative?’

‘Oh I didn’t know her. Just heard about her death and came across the photo when I took out the old programme in anticipation of your visit.’

‘I see,’ Gill said.

I allowed Gill’s ‘I see’ to hang unanswered. His eyes bored into mine, and he kept smiling that perma-smile, but I was certain that he was scrutinising me to see if I had an agenda or if it had been an innocent remark.

‘I hope Finn’s being nice to you?’

Alice Chambers was by my side. I didn’t know how long she’d been there, or how much she’d heard. Gill broke his gaze. He turned his body to her and it was as if I didn’t exist. He had a magnetic power and a way of turning his attention on and off that left me feeling as if I’d been dropped from a height.

‘Couldn’t be nicer,’ he said, his smile a fixed grin. ‘Showtime?’

‘Showtime,’ Alice said. ‘It’s this way.’

With a look at me that could have meant anything, Alice made for a side door marked ‘Staff Only’ that I knew would take them down a descending warren of back stairs and corridors before they re-emerged eventually in the glare of the lights on the huge yawning blackness of the stage. Though I had a ticket for the screening, I’d never be able to sit through it: there was too much to think about. I’d go and watch the introduction, though. I dropped the pen into a fresh plastic bag and made my way down the main stairs to the lobby.