‘Okay, if you’re sure.’ Lucas walks over to me. I’m zipping up my jacket when he puts his arms around me and says, ‘Don’t let them bully you, Tara.’ He squeezes me before letting go and I feel stronger all of a sudden. Like he’s transmitted some of his confidence to me.

‘I won’t.’

‘And don’t let them lock you up before the wedding.’ He laughs at his own humour before disappearing into the ensuite.

The air is crisp and cold when I leave the building to walk to work. With my scarf pulled up over my mouth, I walk down the quays tossing every possible question the detectives might ask me around in my head. I need to stay focused and not let them distract me from keeping my eye on the ball. There are things I cannot say, things they must not know. I will lie if I have to.

Muriel calls me into the back of the shop as soon as I arrive. She has some news for me; I can tell by the width of her eyes. It’s not often I see her this excited so I’m expecting it to be good, or at the very least helpful in some way.

‘She had her troubles.’

‘What? Who?’

‘Avril Ryan.’

I can’t move quickly enough for Muriel so she grabs me by the arm and practically drags me closer to her. There’s no one in the cafe and yet she’s talking rapidly and low like she has some big secret she wants no one else to hear.

‘I spoke to Eamon. Allegedly, Avril Ryan had been in trouble a few years before she disappeared. The brother wasn’t able to tell him precisely what it was because he didn’t know exactly – or at least he wasn’t willing to tell Eamon if he did. What he did tell Eamon was that Avril had just gotten her life back to normal when she disappeared. Something to do with a very bad relationship she was in. The man took her for every penny she had. Stole her confidence as well as her future. The poor girl ended up having a nervous breakdown but dropped the charges against him for some reason. Then they think she got mixed up in drugs or something like that.’

Muriel sticks her head out to see if anyone is waiting at the counter before continuing. ‘Of course, this was all said with a lot more emotion and sympathy than I’m telling you now. Eamon said the brother was in an awful state. The whole family were.’

I’m listening intently but I’m still at a loss as to how Muriel thinks this will help me.