Patrick ignored the question and addressed his dad. ‘You know I’m in the middle of a very intense case. You should also know that I feel terrible about you having to look after Bonnie all the time.’

Normally, his dad would have told Patrick not to worry about it, but today he said, ‘And so you should. Your mum is exhausted. We both are. We love Bonnie to bits but we’re retired now. We should be out enjoying our retirement, but we’re stuck in this house every day.’

‘Jim!’ Mairead protested, but Patrick felt a chill run through his veins. It was pretty obvious that this was what they’d been talking about, why they’d left Bonnie sitting on her own in the other room. And he didn’t blame them. Instead, the guilt he’d felt a minute ago intensified and took away all his strength. He sat down with a thump at the table and rubbed his face.

‘I know. I’m really sorry. I feel terrible about it.’ His eyes stung with emotion.

‘Now look what you’ve done,’ Mairead hissed at her husband. ‘Pat, my darling, don’t worry – your dad and I are just having a bad day, that’s all. Bonnie’s been playing up, having tantrums. She chucked an entire bowl of Cheerios over the floor, went crazy in Tesco because I wouldn’t buy her any sweets and has basically spent the whole day refusing to do anything we tell her to do.’

‘She’s spoiled rotten,’ Jim muttered.

‘We’re the ones who’ve spoiled her.’ Mairead stood up and went over to Pat, resting a hand on his shoulder. Pat had a flashback to when he was a kid, coming home from school with another lousy report saying he needed to try harder, that he was ‘so laid back he’s nearly laid out’. Jim would tut and shake his head and lecture Patrick about how he was never going to fulfil his potential if he didn’t buck his ideas up. But his mum would almost always be calm and reasonable, making him his favourite dinner to help him feel better. But then, as now, he could tell what she was thinking, the emotions she was too kind to express.

Patrick said, ‘Dad’s right. I’ve been asking far too much of you, taking you for granted. I need to sort something out – get a nanny or something. Bonnie can go to nursery.’

‘That’s so expensive, though, Pat. We really are happy to look after her. I don’t want you to spend all your money on childcare.’

‘I’m happy to help pay for the childcare,’ said Jim. He added hastily, ‘Not because I don’t love spending time with Bonnie but . . . We’re too old for this. We just need to be able to cut down on how much we do.’