‘I have my bag,’ Tony said. When the idea had been first discussed, they’d planned to go over and back in one day, returning on the last crossing of the evening. However, Barr had called back a few days later to suggest that they each bring an overnight bag, in case they found relocating Kelly’s resting place more difficult than they thought; the woodland was likely to have changed significantly since they’d last been there. As a result, Tony had packed for a night away. Now, though, he just wanted to go home.

He realised, too, that the fluttering in his stomach was intensifying as they got closer to the wood. His anticipation of the trip had centred almost exclusively on seeing Karen again, how she might have changed, whether she remembered him. And, in his more private moments, whether they might rekindle that which they’d once shared. As he’d packed the overnight bag – Ann’s bag – he’d felt guilty when he realised he was packing his most slimming nightclothes: black T-shirt and shorts. Now, he felt more embarrassment at his vanity than disloyalty to his dead wife.

‘I’ve a funeral in the morning,’ he said.

‘A funeral? Whose?’ Duggan asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Tony admitted.

‘You’re going to a funeral of someone you don’t know?’

‘It’s not like that; I’m a sacristan in the local church.’

‘You found God,’ Duggan said, as if this confirmed a suspicion he’d long harboured.

‘Not quite,’ Tony said, blushing at his feeling that he needed to deny the comment, as if it had been something accusatory. He wasn’t ashamed of his faith, even as he was aware that, increasingly, people saw it as something old-fashioned. Even in school, staff had scoffed at his continued attendance at Mass, had questioned how he could continue to believe in something they considered so ridiculous. He’d smiled, nodded his head in acknowledgement of their derision, felt no compulsion to defend his choices. The truth was, Ann had been the religious one. Even when they’d first met, she’d been going to First Friday Masses, confessions, the whole bit. She’d even managed to convince him to go to Lough Derg with her; their first trip away together.