Eventually he pulled a blue folder from the drawer, scratched his head with comical disbelief, put it back, and then pulled out another.

‘Ah, here’s the little bugger.’ He slapped it on the desk. ‘Just need your signature on the pages marked. Here, here, and here.’

Patrick slid the folder towards Conor and turned his attention to the television, his head bobbing between the TV screen and the desk, barely paying any attention to Conor who asked, ‘And here?’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Patrick. ‘Come on, son.’

Hannah wasn’t sure whether he was talking to Conor or the horse.

They talked for a few minutes about the papers which, from what Hannah could gather, were transfers of deeds. Once that was done, Hannah watched slightly fearfully as Patrick wedged the papers back into the filing cabinet, wondering if they would ever reach their official destination.

‘Mam wants some advice. Remember our neighbour, Moss Murphy? There’s some talk about him getting planning permission to change the farmland into a light industrial estate which Mam is worried will impact on the farm. She’s worried he’ll want to use the lane to provide access because it’s a shared private road. It’s his only access to the main road. And it will mean lots of lorries, noise and fumes right by the kitchens and the farmhouse.’

‘Hmm, well I don’t need to look that one up. He’s been claiming shared ownership of that road for nigh on twenty years, even though he knows full well it isn’t his. But I’ll dig the file out so we can put the dear lady’s fears to rest.’ He pushed the glasses, which had slipped down to the end of his nose, back up, gave the television a quick, concerned look, and turned to rifle through the files again. ‘Should be a property boundary map in here somewhere.’ He huffed and puffed as he sorted through one drawer, every now and then turning to check the progress of the next race. According to the commentator they were under starter’s orders. Just as he announced, ‘And they’re off!’ Patrick wheeled round, triumphantly holding aloft another file. He darted his gaze towards the screen and nodded before turning to Connor. ‘Copy of the deeds. That’ll do.’

He squinted down at the paper, in between checking the progress of the race, and Hannah was itching to snatch it away from him and look for herself. There was no doubt about it: the Byrne family definitely needed a new lawyer.

‘Hmm, it’s not all… Hmm, some of the paperwork… Can’t see the boundary map in here – but you know there’s a map on the wall in your mother’s office… however this is the important bit, pertaining to the private road.’