“Of course I’m bloody sorry,” he shouted. “She was a bloody great songwriter. Just because she couldn’t do my job doesn’t mean I didn’t respect the way she did hers. She might have been bloody difficult to work with, but at least she gave you something you could get your teeth into in the first place.” He subsided as quickly as he’d erupted and slouched even deeper in the chair. “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry,” I said, meaning it. “Did anyone else come down to the studio while you were there?”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, screwing up his eyes in concentration. “Kevin came in. I’ve been trying to remember if it was once or twice, but I’m not sure. He wanted to hear how it was going, but I wasn’t really in the mood. I was into the music, you know? I didn’t have a lot left over for small talk.”

“Screws your memory up, doesn’t it?” I said sympathetically.

“What d’you mean?”

“Charlie. Destroys the short-term memory.”

“I don’t know what you’re on about,” came the reflex answer.

“Coke. And I don’t mean the brown fizzy stuff. It’s OK, Micky, I’m not a copper’s nark. I don’t give a shit what you do to yourself. Everybody’s got the right to go to hell in the handcart of their choice. I’m just concerned about finding out what happened to Moira. And if you were out of your box, your evidence on Kevin’s movements isn’t worth a damn,” I informed him, aware even as I spoke how bloody sanctimonious I sounded. At least I’d managed to restrain myself from dishing out the standard Brannigan anti drugs sermon.

“So I do the odd line. So what? I’d had a bit, but I wasn’t flying. I just don’t remember if he came in once or twice, OK?” The belligerent edge was back in his voice.

“You ever use heroin?”

“No way. I’ve seen too many talented kids go down that road. No, all I do is a bit of recreational coke.”

“But you’d know where to get heroin if someone else wanted it?”

He shook his head in wide, disbelieving sweeps. “Oh no, you don’t pin that one on me. I don’t deal, not for anybody, not for my nearest and dearest. Personal use, that’s all.”

“But you’d know where to get it?” I persisted.