I shrug. ‘No idea, but I doubt it. They weren’t exactly friends, those two.’

‘True. So Lily’s all grown up and safely in America. That’s kind of surreal. Funny, sometimes I’d see people on the street and wonder if it was her.’

‘Oh, me too.’ I laugh. ‘I even wondered – just for a heartbeat – if your god-daughter Saoirse was somehow Lily.’

‘Ah, stop. What did you think, that I’d kidnapped her? That I loved babysitting so much, I took the child?’

‘I didn’t really think it, but there was something familiar about Saoirse and I was seeing Lily everywhere. Something about the set of her mouth and the line of her jaw.’ And if Saoirse and Lily are both Robbie’s daughters … I shake my head. Fran’s going to get annoyed if I go down this route again. ‘Anyway, it was just a moment of madness, and all’s well that ends well.’

Susie shakes her head. ‘I can’t believe all these years we thought it was down to that man Eddie Hogan.’

I throw her a warning look.

‘Well, he did attack Robbie that night, broke his arm,’ she says defensively.

I feel a little bit sorry for Eddie Hogan, wherever he is now, but I don’t correct her.

‘And it had nothing to do with Victor O’Brien or Cora either,’ Fran says. ‘I feel bad for them now.’

Me too.

‘Goodness, it was never anything to do with Cora,’ Susie says, clicking her tongue. ‘Why on earth would you think that?’

‘It’s ancient history now, but I thought I saw her hurt Lily once and my mam said the same.’

‘Nonsense.’ Susie shakes her head. ‘Cora was a little over-enthusiastic at times, that’s for sure, but there was never a bit of harm in it. She grew out of it as she got older. Gosh, there’s no such thing as a bad child. Nurture might corrupt over time but all humans start out good.’

Fran looks suitably chastised.

‘Poor Cora,’ Susie continues, with a shake of her head. ‘God rest her soul. Did you hear they’re saying it was actually murder, not suicide at all?’

I feign shock, mirroring Fran’s genuine response. There’ll be a trial of course – Cynthia’s been charged with Cora’s murder and is being investigated for Lila’s death. I’ll have to talk to the police again too, about my part in it, about what I remember. And when it goes to court, it’ll be in the papers. But Mark is still the only person who knows the truth about my upbringing, and I’m hoping nobody I know will connect me to Cynthia. Secrets are bad for the soul, but some truths are too much.

‘Anyway, good that Victor O’Brien and even that bull of a man, Eddie Hogan, are officially exonerated after all these years.’ Susie raises a glass.

I raise mine though it’s not at all official, since neither Ruth nor I have told the police the new story – the truth about Mary and Lily – but I don’t say any of this.