‘A little bit of empathy can go a long way, Detective. My younger brother is similar to Carney. He was deprived of oxygen during birth – the umbilical cord twisted around his neck. He has a good life, but other people don’t make it easy for him. They make assumptions. Donal is very affectionate. He’ll come right up to you, even if you’re a stranger, and try to kiss you. And because at first glance he looks normal enough, people react badly. Women especially. Obviously. I don’t blame them – Donal’s a big lad. You have to look closely to see the innocence in his eyes. That’s all it is, he just wants to be loved.’

The inspector rested his elbows on the desk.

‘I understand,’ he said. ‘And I guess I can see why you’d instinctively feel sorry for Vincent. But your brother sounds like a gentle soul. Vincent isn’t gentle.’

‘No. As I said, I misjudged him.’

‘Hmm.’

Tom pulled a piece of paper from his file.

‘We had a chat with him yesterday. He said a couple of things that bothered me. For example, he mentioned that only people in Fiona Holland’s family call her Fi. And yet, that’s what you call her.’

Healy’s eye twitched and he started to pick at the stitching on the seam of his trousers.

‘I’ve been around her family a lot these last couple of weeks. I must have picked up on it. Why is it relevant?’

‘Bart, I’m going to be straight with you. Stephen McCabe told us Fiona was seeing somebody as well as him. He reckons this guy is some kind of big shot. Were you sleeping with Fiona?’

The other man swallowed, then licked his dry lips.

‘Seriously? Is this why you called me up? That’s ludicrous.’

‘Do you deny it?’

Healy shook his head.

‘I’m not even going to dignify it with an answer. What kind of stunt are you pulling here? I’m heading up the investigation into this girl’s disappearance and you want to start throwing wild innuendo and accusations around on the basis of what some scumbag and the village idiot said?’

‘The village idiot?’ Tom repeated calmly, studying Healy. ‘He was a human being a minute ago.’

Healy stood up abruptly.

‘I’m not sitting here and listening to this shit.’

‘You’re either sitting here and listening to this shit or I’m arresting you.’

The other man laughed in disbelief, then his face grew sombre.

‘Arresting me for what? On suspicion of having had sex with Fiona Holland, something that couldn’t be proved even if it were true?’