‘I rarely see her. It’s not as if we have much to say to each other. We spent the best part of a decade not talking at all, and after that our friendship never recovered. You’ll probably say this sounds harsh, but when she took up with Julian Heaney, I lost interest in her.’ Conor tried to speak. She swatted him away. ‘And don’t say I shouldn’t have let a man come between us, because there was more to it than that, as well you know.’

Tess was keen to move on, Conor equally determined not to. ‘That was a long time ago,’ he said. ‘Twenty-five years ago.’

‘There’s no law saying you have to remain friends with the people you knew as a kid.’

‘You make it sound like you were casual acquaintances. For years, the two of you were inseparable.’

He was right. In their teens, Tess had felt a kinship with Nina, consulting her on every decision, no matter how small. Okay, Nina had had her annoying tendencies: her insecurity; her inability to stand up to her father; her kowtowing to authority figures in general. By comparison with these minor flaws, Tess’s failings were many. But the autumn of ’91 had changed everything. Nina and Tess had been wrenched apart, and it was too late to change that now.

She held up her hands in a mocking gesture of surrender. ‘All right, you win. I’ll give her a shout some time. But I’ve got to be straight with you, I’ve no time for phoney reunions. Miles is plagued by them. He usually goes and he’s usually disappointed.’

‘I’m not asking you to meet up with our entire primary-school class.’

‘And you know what I always say to him? “There’s a reason you don’t keep in touch with some people, Miles. It’s because you don’t like them.”’

Conor gave a slight shake of the head, his way of telling her she’d gone too far.

She decided to take charge. ‘Can I ask you something?’

He smiled. ‘Ask away.’

‘It’s not a question, more of a request. Mam’s been telling me about your interest in Father Galvin.’

‘Oh?’

‘She says Flan’s worried, and she’d like you to tone it down a bit – before people get hurt.’

His smile dissolved. ‘I’m not doing anything wrong here. I’m simply taking another look at a case that’s bugged me for years.’

‘All right, it’s not just Mam asking you to go easy. It’s me. Your father did what he thought was right. And, remember, for a long time he wasn’t alone on that investigation. A lot of guards worked on it, and they were moved on because they weren’t getting anywhere.’

‘You wanted to know about your father. Your mother asked you to let it go … and you didn’t.’

‘Oh, come on, that was different.’