‘Here – this beige Volvo pulls up in front of the School of Pharmacy. There’s the front view of it from the camera outside the AIB Bank just past Highfield West, and the back view of it from the camera outside the Bon Secours Hospital. Now this fellow gets out, opens up the boot and takes out a large cardboard box. The trouble is, his face is hidden first of all by the boot lid, and then he lifts the box on to his shoulder, so that you still can’t clearly see what he looks like.

‘He’s wearing what looks like a black leather or nylon jacket and jeans. The receptionists said it was black leather but they couldn’t be sure.’

‘I’m assuming the car’s number plate is false?’ Katie asked him.

‘It’s a genuine Limerick County LK plate but it doesn’t belong to that car. It was registered to a Kia that was stolen two years ago and never located.’

Detective Sergeant Begley froze the image of the man lifting the box on to his shoulder. ‘There – between the boot lid and the box, before he closes the boot lid and turns around, you can just see part of his chin. Kind of cleft, like. I swear I recognize that chin, but I can’t quite put a name to it. And there’s something else, too. Look at the gatch on the fellow. Maybe it’s the box he’s carrying that makes him walk like that, but it seems to me like he’s limping slightly, with his right foot turned outward. And that reminds me of somebody, too.’

‘If you can put the chin together with the limp, maybe you’ll be able to remember who he is,’ said Robert.

‘I’m wracking my brains, I’ll tell you.’

‘Well, keep wracking.’

Sergeant Murphy said, ‘Let’s leave aside the bombing for a moment, DS Maguire. Come and take a lamp at this.’

He ushered Katie over to the next room, where there was another bank of CCTV screens, with two gardaí operating them.

‘Maura – would you run that Tivoli footage for us, please?’

‘From the beginning, sir?’

‘From the beginning, yes, but speed it up. I’ll tell you when to go slo-mo.’

Katie sat down next to the garda. ‘This is the footage from the house opposite Justice Quinn’s?’