Justice O’Rafferty took her hand away from her mouth, blinked away her tears and stared at her. ‘You? You mean you were—?’

Katie nodded. ‘It was intense, but it didn’t last long. That was just how Garrett was. He was passionate, and adoring, and when I was with him I felt like I was the only woman in the world that he had ever wanted. But as it turned out I wasn’t. He may have been passionate, do you know, but he had a fierce short span of attention when it came to women. It was like he was worried that he was going to grow old without having slept with every available woman in the whole of Ireland.’

‘So what is it that you were going to ask me?’

‘I think you know that, ma’am. I kind of guessed it the first time I talked to you, and your tears tell it all. But my sincere apologies if I’ve misread them.’

A court usher appeared at the open door and gave Stephen Herlihy a salute. Stephen Herlihy clapped his hands and said, ‘It’s time, Your Honours. Detective Superintendent Maguire… Detective Sergeant Ni Nuallán… if you’d like to follow me. DI Mulliken’s already in the courtroom.’

Justice O’Rafferty called out, ‘One moment, Stephen,’ and she beckoned Katie to come closer. She turned her head away, as if she were seeking judicial guidance from the portrait of Chief Justice O’Brien FitzGerald hanging over the fireplace, and then she said, ‘We became lovers, yes, during the course of this trial. He told me that I was the woman he’d been looking for all his life. Two weeks ago he promised me that he was going to tell Orla that he was leaving her, and that he would ask her for a divorce.’

Katie waited for Justice O’Rafferty to say more, but all she did was pluck a handkerchief out of her sleeve and wipe her eyes. As far as Katie was concerned, though, she didn’t really have to add anything to what she had said already. The agonized expression on her face was far more eloquent than words.

*

Katie and Kyna sat in the body of the courtroom, next to Detective Inspector Mulliken and Detective Cushley, and facing the registrar, a fiftyish woman in a purple dress who looked like a retired schoolteacher. The courtroom was still new, and smelled new, with plain polished wood panelling, and high windows all along the sides.

Behind them, the public benches were crowded, and when she turned around, Katie recognized at least three of Thomas O’Flynn’s gang, including his older brother Doran, although she couldn’t see Thomas himself. They were all sitting on one of the front benches, so they must have arrived early.