‘I have one more thing, though I’m not sure if it’s of any use. The page came from a pad. It was a good few blank pages in, so the indentations are very light, but we picked up something that had been inscribed on the pages above it.’

Emmet pulled up an image on his computer.

Tom stared at the letters and numbers, trying to make sense of what he was looking at.

‘I don’t see anything logical here,’ he said, squinting. ‘S-pl. 500. F-er. What the hell does that mean?’

‘Dunno. We’ve been playing brainteasers all morning. You can come up with a lot of words for those letters. Simple. Supple. Fucker. Simple supple fucker.’

‘Thanks. Very helpful.’

Emmet shrugged.

‘I’m not a miracle worker.’

‘Boss?’

Ray stuck his head around Emmet’s door.

‘You look like shit,’ Emmet said, jovially. ‘Nice of you to let the rest of us mere mortals have a chance with the female of the species.’

‘Even with leprosy, he’d have an edge on you,’ Tom said, standing up. ‘Let me know if you find anything else.’

Out in the hall, he took a good look at his deputy. Ray’s eyes were heavy-lidded and ringed, his hair dishevelled.

‘How early did you leave Cork this morning?’ the inspector asked. ‘I wasn’t expecting you back up until later.’

‘We came back last night, arrived about 3 a.m.,’ Ray said. ‘Laura didn’t want to stay down there.’

‘You crazy kids,’ Tom said. ‘You should have stayed in bed for a couple of hours. You’re not much use to me struggling to keep your eyes open.’

‘That was my plan but then Natasha McCarthy called. I was liaising with her on listed sex offenders. Did the sergeant handling Fiona Holland’s disappearance mention a guy called Vincent Carney?’

The inspector shook his head.

‘Not a word. Who is he?’

‘He’s on the offenders’ list. A file full of misdemeanours involving women. He started off flashing and grabbing women’s knickers off washing lines. Graduated to groping and then attempted rape. More to the point, he lives a mile away from Fiona Holland and she made a complaint against him last year. She dropped the charge, though.’

‘You’re shitting me.’

Ray shook his head.

‘Let’s go out there, so,’ Tom said. ‘We’ll take my car. I’m not letting you behind a wheel. You can snooze on the way.’

‘Fair enough. Can I suggest we go via the Hollands’? Apparently Fergus Holland thumped the head off this Carney fella in the not-too-distant past.’

‘Yep. But first, we’re popping in to see Sergeant Bart Healy to ask him why he didn’t give us the heads-up on the local sex perv.’

‘To be honest, now, it wouldn’t have occurred to me.’