‘I’m trying to get proper air conditioning sorted out for the incident room,’ he said, pulling out a chair for the inspector. ‘But you know what the civil service mandarins are like. I’m banging my head off a wall. They’re just short of suggesting I go down there and flap my arms to create a breeze.’

‘We’re managing,’ Tom smiled, feeling more contrite by the passing second. He’d spent the morning cursing the lack of cool air downstairs, blaming his boss. Ian’s fans were a poor substitute and Tom was sick of having to change his shirt after every team meeting.

‘It’s not good enough in this day and age. I’ll get our offices in this building modernised if it kills me. The job is hard enough without having to deal with continuous budget cuts. Anyway, don’t mind me. How can I help?’

‘Well, it’s to do with modernising, as it happens. I’m getting some curious reports as to attitudes towards the Glendalough victims by some of our colleagues.’

Kennedy’s face transformed from its normal docile expression to one of alarm. He sat forward, elbows on the desk.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The woman who went missing in West Cork, for example, Mary Ellen Lehane. She told her family that the sergeant down there had tried to rape her. When she was reported missing, he didn’t officially record her disappearance for a full month. He appears to have conducted an investigation of sorts, but the Lehanes claim he was quick to dismiss their concerns at the time. His conversation with Laura and Michael would lead me to believe that. He used some choice words to paint a picture of her as promiscuous and said he believed she’d run off of her own accord.’

Tom hesitated. Kennedy’s face was getting redder. This must be a nightmare for the man – the thought that the gardaí hadn’t done their jobs properly. He was all about procedure. The lads in West Cork were about to be landed in a ton of shit.

‘There’s a similar story in Kerry,’ the inspector continued.

When he’d finished, he paused and waited for Kennedy’s response. The man seemed lost for words. He got up from his chair and stood in front of the window, his back to Tom, hands clasped behind him.

‘I’d be concerned,’ Tom added, observing the epaulettes on Kennedy’s narrow shoulders, ‘that some of our colleagues had an attitude towards these women that may have negatively affected the original investigations into their disappearances. And given what we suspect – that this man held his victims before he killed them – that really worries me. I think it’s something we will need to address. I thought we’d moved on from that sort of carry-on. I mean, Mary Ellen Lehane disappeared in 2008. There’s enough training nowadays to knock that kind of prejudice out of officers.’