“I’ve developed some feelings for someone else and I’m not sure if it’s right.” He looked up at me and smiled sadly. “I feel as if I’m being unfaithful even thinking about it.”

When we stopped at the Garda Station at Glendara so Derek could drop in his brother’s watch, I stayed in the car. I didn’t feel like explaining why I’d been with him at Mamore Gap. I’d done nothing wrong in simply doing a grieving man a favor, but I wasn’t sure Molloy would see it that way. He might see it as my usual interfering, even in his present more amenable frame of mind.

While I waited, I watched a man with a brush sweep water from his front garden onto the street. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a more pointless exercise: the more he did it, the more it just kept flowing back in around him. But he kept at it, doggedly swishing away. I found it almost mesmerizing to watch.

Eventually Derek emerged from the station and sat in the driver’s seat without a word. There was something decidedly weary about him, though he seemed tense too. His back was rigid.

“Are you okay?” I asked. I imagined how alone he must be feeling. He hadn’t said anything more about what he’d mentioned at the waterfall, but I hoped for his sake he managed to find some happiness.

He sighed. “Just feeling a bit helpless, I suppose. And sad.” He spotted the man with the brush, arched an eyebrow and I wondered if he was thinking what I had been. “The guard in there – not the sergeant, the other one, McFadden, is that his name?”

I nodded.

“He tells me the town is completely cut off now.”

“Yes, there are a number of bridges down and most of the access roads are impassable.”

He looked over at me. “I wonder if there’s something I can do to help. I’m an engineer. Maybe I could be of some use.”

“Maybe. Although I think the county council have it in hand.”

His brow furrowed as if he was trying to work something out, and I wondered what he was thinking. It struck me that Derek was one of those people who found it difficult to relax, who needed to keep moving for his peace of mind. Even more so today than usual, I suspected. I glanced at his taut frame and I wondered if he’d used sport to cope with his wife’s diagnosis.

“Anyway,” he sighed. “For the moment I’d better get back to Amanda. I’ve been gone long enough.”