She patted her mother’s shoulder and led the two detectives from the room.

‘We’ll go outside,’ Elizabeth said. She filled a jug with water from the tap, begrudgingly threw in some ice cubes, and grabbed two glasses.

They followed her out to a garden overlooking the rolling plains. An old bench was positioned just outside the back door and they sat on that, taking in the view, as the comforting smell of fabric softener from the sheets hanging on the washing line drifted in their direction.

‘I can’t say what I’m about to tell you in front of Mammy. It will get her all riled up and she’d think I was wasting my time. She reckons you’re all the same. But you’re from Dublin and I don’t know – maybe you’re a bit more open-minded up there.’

‘Who’s all the same?’ Laura asked. ‘The guards?’

‘Aye.’

‘Because the gardaí didn’t take you seriously when you reported that Mary Ellen had gone missing?’

Elizabeth looked at her sharply. Laura held up a conciliatory hand.

‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘We’re open to anything you want to tell us. Mary Ellen was murdered, so everything is relevant now. Anything you have to say will be listened to with the utmost gravity, I promise you.’

Elizabeth hesitated, studying Laura.

‘Aye, well. Let’s see if you close ranks on this one. It wasn’t just that the guards didn’t take Mary Ellen’s disappearance seriously. They ridiculed us when we went to report it, wouldn’t even write it down. She was missing for a month before we could get them to log it with that – what is it you call it?’

‘The Missing Persons Bureau?’

‘Yeah. That.’

‘Sorry, are you saying a whole month passed before her disappearance was logged?’ This was Michael. ‘What date did she go missing?’

‘The 17th of March, 2008. St Patrick’s Day. A month later, they decided they’d finally open a file on her.’

‘Why?’ Laura asked. Considering Mary Ellen had been twenty-five, she could imagine how the family might have met with sceptical reassurances when they’d first turned up at their local station. But there was no excuse, after some time had passed and it was obvious she was indeed missing for the guards not to have logged the report quicker. Even if they had thought she’d gone off of her own volition.

Elizabeth stared out at the rural vista, her eyes sad. She shrugged.