She looked down at her hand which now held a clump of hair. There was silence for a few seconds before she looked up, her eyes welling with tears. “She didn’t give it to me. I took it. She didn’t know. I just needed to feel not scared for a while. I wanted to be like her. Brave.”

“I understand,” I said more quietly.

Her eyes darted everywhere. “But Sue’s able to handle it. I’m too stupid … I couldn’t even do that right.”

“Why would Sue take it?” I asked. “When we spoke at the office you said she was going through a hard time.”

But Lissa remained silent. As far as she was concerned, I’d blabbed her secrets to the guards, so she wasn’t about to share someone else’s, and I couldn’t really blame her. So, I played my last card. She still refused to look at the picture, so I asked, “Do you know a Marina Connor from Sligo?”

Her head whipped up to face me, unable to hide her shock. “Why?”

“She’s here, in Glendara. She’s been my locum solicitor for six months. You could just as easily have found yourself asking her for advice as me.” I derived some grim satisfaction out of telling her that.

Her face clouded. “I’d never have asked her for advice. Not in a million years.”

I leaned in. “Why, Lissa? What do you have against her?”

Her face soured. “She’s Chris’s sister.”

My throat tightened. No wonder she didn’t trust me. “So that’s why you said you couldn’t get independent advice in Sligo.”

“They all know each other, there. If I went to any of the solicitors in Sligo, they’d tell her if I asked for advice.”

“I doubt that’s true.”

“You told, didn’t you?” she snapped.

There wasn’t much I could say to that. She looked away and I took a half-step closer. “Look, you don’t have to agree with what I did, but will you look at this picture for me, please? Just take a quick glance.”

Begrudgingly she took the phone from me. And this time she didn’t even need to reply, her expression was everything. Her breath quickened and she pulled back, her face frozen in fear.

The door was pushed open and Molloy appeared. I took the phone back, as if I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. Maybe I had been.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

Lissa looked at the wall, unhappily. “I need to sleep,” she said, truculent again. “The nurses said I have to sleep.”

But Molloy was unruffled. “I just need to take a quick statement. I’ll only take up a few minutes of your time,” he said calmly.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” I said and I left the room.