‘They’re navy blue, with a big silvery N on the side of them.’

‘That’s perfect, Peadar. And his tracksuit, just to confirm, it’s light grey, yes, with no decoration on it at all?’

‘It’s light grey all right, but it does have this thin white stripe down the side of the leg.’

‘A thin white stripe? You’re positive about that?’

‘Sure, like. I can see it now. This very thin white stripe.’

Detective Cullen looked at Detective Walsh. Neither of them had to say, Doireann’s tracksuit had no stripe. Maybe she’s been telling the truth and she didn’t push Roisin Carroll into the river.

Dr Power said, ‘What can you hear, Peadar? The fellow in the tracksuit, does he speak at all?’

‘I can hear somebody shout, but I’m not sure if it’s him.’

‘Is it a man or a woman’s voice?’

‘Oh, it’s a feller all right.’

‘And what does he shout, this fellow?’

‘It’s hard to hear. The wind’s blowing, and that makes the trees rustle, and the river’s clapping up against the bank, like. But it sounds like “fraochÚn!”’

‘Is that all? “Whore!” Just that one word?’

‘That’s all I can hear. And the feller’s running off now, and I’m hobbling fast as I can towards the riverbank, and all I can hear is screaming and splashing.’

Peadar jerked his hand away from the top of his head and clawed at the collar of his sweater as if he were trying to pull it off. But then he abruptly opened his eyes and stared at Dr Power and the two detectives in bewilderment.

‘I thought I was—’ he began, looking around the living room. ‘I thought I was there, like, by the river, and Roisin had just fallen in.’

‘You were remembering, that’s all,’ said Dr Power.

‘But, Jesus, I was sure that I was really there. And where’s me—?’ He lifted his right hand and turned it this way and that. ‘I was smoking a fag a minute ago, wasn’t I? Or did I imagine it? Don’t tell me I’m going doolally.’

‘No, you’re as sane as the rest of us, Peadar,’ Dr Power told him. ‘You went through a fierce traumatic experience that afternoon, and stress can play some mad tricks on our brains sometimes. Your memory of it will fade a bit in time, I promise you. The only thing that you should never let yourself forget is that you were a hero, and that you saved a little girl’s life.’

‘On top of which, you’ve given us some pure valuable information,’ said Detective Cullen.

Peadar looked baffled. ‘Information? You have me there, boy. What information? I don’t follow you.’