‘Desmond and Daniel,’ she said a little stiffly, annunciating each syllable.

‘Daniel or Danny?’ Tony asked with a smile.

‘Danny to me,’ she said. ‘Daniel to everyone else.’ Her back was erect, her posture frozen in the moment of gathering food onto her fork.

‘Danny’s a good name,’ Tony said, thinking of his brother.

She nodded, her eyes dropping from his face to the space between them, as if for the first time she realised the connection between them that the name had created.

‘So’s Daniel,’ Barr said. ‘Daniel O’Connell.’

She managed a brittle smile at the comment. Hugh, for his part, did not engage in the conversation.

‘Have you family, Hugh?’

‘Two ex-wives,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry,’ Karen said.

Hugh held up his hand. ‘Don’t be. I’m not. You know they say marriage is an institution. Well, I’d rather not be institutionalised.’

They all smiled lightly at the joke they’d all heard before, except Barr, who seemed to echo Hugh’s words, the punchline forming silently on his lips before he laughed and clapped his hands. Tony glanced at Karen who’d turned her attention to the contents of her plate again.

‘What about you, Richard?’

Barr snorted. ‘I’m only twenty-one,’ he said.

‘You’re still pretty much a kid yourself,’ Karen commented.

Tony looked at the young man. His features were defined, his eyes clear, his skin supple, still marked in places with acne along his throat.

‘You weren’t even born then,’ he said, softly. ‘When Martin died.’

Barr nodded. ‘I suppose.’

‘Why in God’s name would you want to be part of it now?’

Duggan, his arms still folded, leaned forward. ‘The young fella’s doing his bit for the country. Like we all did. At one stage.’

Barr nodded, emboldened by Duggan’s endorsement. ‘What Hugh said earlier. It’s my duty.’

‘Were you alive when the Agreement was signed?’

‘About six months before,’ Barr said, a little defiantly.

‘And you don’t think that what’s happened after it is better than what went before?’

‘For who?’ Duggan asked.

‘For all of us?’

Duggan shook his head. ‘Maybe.’

‘People died so that Agreement could be reached,’ Barr said. ‘It justified their sacrifices.’

‘Like Martin Kelly’s sacrifice?’ Tony asked.

‘Have you gone soft in your old age?’ Duggan hissed. ‘He knew what would happen to him. We all did.’

‘Peace happened because of politics. In spite of violence, not because of it,’ Tony said.

‘Violence is politics,’ Duggan snapped.

‘Not my kind.’

‘Then why are you here?’

Duggan’s question was asked almost with a smirk, as if he knew something that Tony had not yet realised.

‘To do right by Kelly’s family,’ Tony said carefully, aware that that was not entirely truthful. Not for him at least.

‘Why are we here? Duggan asked, nudging Barr with his shoulder.

‘To help recover–’

‘No,’ Duggan said. ‘Why are we really here?’

Tony felt his own gaze falter under the intensity of Duggan’s, but could not let himself look away now. His stomach stirred and seemed to drop as his breath caught.