‘Not me personally. They were distant relations of Eamon’s.’

Eamon is what Muriel calls her ‘part-time husband’. Sometimes they’re on, sometimes they’re off. He’s a very unassuming quiet guy if you ask me but Muriel finds enough fault in him to send him packing every now and then.

‘Which is why I had to go to the funeral,’ she says. ‘Eamon wanted to show his support even though he hasn’t seen them since he was a kid.’

‘Was anything said at the funeral about her death? Do they know how it happened?’ I say this with my heart thumping in my chest because I can’t believe my boss was at the woman’s funeral.

‘I didn’t go to the reception afterwards, but Eamon did. He fell in late and I never got to ask him anything about it. But I’ll find out later if you want me to?’ Muriel turns her head sideways to look at me. She’s trying to gauge my reaction. I don’t want to seem overly interested so I continue as if she never said anything. I know Muriel will ask Eamon if he heard anything and she’ll be dying to tell me what she finds out, anyway.

‘The poor family, they must be devastated,’ I say. ‘I hope the police find out what happened to her so they can have closure.’

I’m praying someone walks through the door and breaks up this conversation. The longer it goes on, the more chance there is I’ll tell Muriel that I was living at Huntley Lodge at the time Avril Ryan was murdered and that I’ve to go to the station tomorrow to be questioned further.

When the door finally opens, two women from the beautician’s a few doors down enter. They’re lively, beautiful, and a total tonic from the gloomy atmosphere that I’ve created. They engage Muriel in conversation while I leave to attend to the delivery out back.

When I’m out of sight, I take my phone from my pocket and check to see if Faye has called but my heart sinks when I see she hasn’t. I’m nervous about going to a police station, even with a solicitor by my side. Should I tell Lucas or wait until after I’ve been there? I don’t want him worrying unnecessarily. There’s nothing he can do. The only one who can help me now is Faye. She has to tell the detective that I didn’t know Avril Ryan.