Peadar bent over and looked down at Ita, fast asleep with her thumb in her mouth. ‘Every time I see her, d’ye know, I think of my little Sinéad. She was only two-and-a-half years old, Sinéad, when she passed away. It would be her forty-third birthday on Thursday next if the pneumonia hadn’t taken her.’

‘I expect God had a reason for wanting her back in Heaven,’ said Roisin.

‘Well, maybe you’re right. But I wish He could’ve allowed us to enjoy her company a little longer than He did and given us the chance to show her how much we adored her. I still have her dolly at home, d’ye know, sitting on the back of my settee, smiling away like she thinks that little Sinéad will be trotting into the room one day to pick her up again and give her a cuddle.’

Roisin didn’t know how to answer that. She laid her hand on Peadar’s shoulder and gave him a rueful smile, but just as she did a chilly wind blew across the river, so that its silver-grey surface rippled, and the few remaining leaves in the trees along The Marina rustled anxiously.

‘I’ll have to be taking Ita back in the warm now, Peadar,’ she told him. ‘Why don’t you come over for a mug of scaldy tomorrow morning and we can have a bit of a chat, like?’

‘That would be grand, Roisin. I’d like that. I don’t think I’ve spoken to no one at all since Monday. Well, only to say “what’s the craic?” to Dermot in the Menloe Stores.’

Póg let out a sharp impatient yip and Peadar limped off after him. Roisin gave a shiver and carried on pushing Ita’s stroller along the path. The wind was gusting even harder now, and the river was slapping repeatedly against the steps where people sometimes tied up their boats.

She didn’t see or hear the tall, thin man in the loose grey tracksuit who came running from the corner of Church Avenue towards her. Even if she had, she wouldn’t have paid him much attention. Joggers were common along The Marina, along with dog walkers and anglers, although there wasn’t much to catch in the Lee apart from grey mullet, and they’d been feeding off the sewer outlets.

As he came nearer, the man started to run faster. By the time he was less than ten metres away from her, he was running at full pelt. It was only when he had almost reached her that she heard the pattering sound of his footsteps and caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye.