‘Arrested her? I suppose I could have, based on the CCTV footage. But even if she hadn’t threatened me, I probably would have waited until we’d located the fellow in the driving seat. I need to know who he is, and what his relationship is with Orla, and what he has to say for himself about driving off with Garrett. But I would have taken her in for questioning… yes. She’s a lawyer herself and she knows her rights, but underneath all that she’s a passionate and angry woman, and I wonder how long she’d be able to keep that bottled up.’

Kieran said, ‘I think you made the right decision, though. Why jeopardize your whole future career because you made one historic lapse of judgement? We all make mistakes, even us judges. Yes – you should have declared your relationship to Justice Quinn before Phinean Joyce was sent for trial. But equally so should Justice Quinn. In fact, more so, because he was responsible for handing down the sentence. But he’s dead now, so he can’t be censured, and Phinean Joyce is dead, too, so he can’t be retried.

‘Katie – your value to this community in terms of what you do for keeping the peace, it’s beyond measure. If you’re suspended, or sacked, then the Cork Garda are going to lose all your experience, all your talent, and most of all they’re going to lose one of the few people who can drag them out of the masonic lodges and the golf club bars and into the open, where they’re accountable for everything they do.’

‘That sounded like a summing-up,’ said Katie.

‘It was, in a way,’ Kieran told her, and he banged the table with the handle of his knife as if it were a gavel. ‘“Detective Superintendent Kathleen Maguire, on this occasion I find that the charges that you’ve levelled against yourself are unproven. You’re free to go, but only after you’ve finished your risotto. And I hope you’ll be wanting some chocolate pecan torte to finish up with. And one more glass of champagne.”’

They spent the rest of their dinner talking about Kieran’s passion for sailing, both cruising and racing. He was a member of the Clontarf Yacht Club and he promised to take Katie out on his yacht when she could find the free time to come up to Dublin.

‘No offence meant,’ she told him. ‘But I hope that’ll be later rather than sooner.’

Kieran rang for a Satellite taxi, and then they left Greenes to stand under the arch that led to MacCurtain Street to wait for its arrival. It was still pouring with rain and the street was sparkling wet.

‘I hope I haven’t kept you up too late,’ said Kieran. ‘How long will it take you to drive home?’