Conor wouldn’t give way. ‘And in more recent years, you may have thought it was too late. Besides, Noel O’Grady was carrying the can. You knew he wasn’t a killer. But, hey, let people believe what they want to believe. Isn’t that right?’

‘If O’Grady was blamed in the wrong – and I’m not saying he was – it was your own father’s doing.’ Conor was bobbing and weaving, but Tom had landed a punch. ‘Tess told me,’ he explained. ‘Yesterday.’

‘Did she give you the full story?’

‘If you mean did she tell me he’d raped her mother, yeah, she did.’

Conor clasped his hands together. ‘I spent most of the day talking to Dad and Ginny. When I told Ginny about Hannah, she gave me her blessing to ask more questions. Dad was the same. We might disagree on a lot of things, but whatever the old man did, he did for good reasons. Like you.’

Tom snorted.

‘Anyway, let’s go back to the church flowers. It turns out that, while she wasn’t a regular fixture, Nina’s mam used to do the flowers on big occasions. To be blunt about it, she had a lot more style than the likes of Peggy McGoldrick. She still does. These days, someone like Helen would go to art college or write for a glossy magazine or run one of those style blogs. Back in the seventies and eighties, though, having a husband with a well-paid job was meant to be enough. Women like Helen weren’t supposed to have ambitions beyond looking after their family. Only can you imagine being married to Emmet Minogue? Granted, he’s got more finesse than Noel O’Grady. And a lot more money. But, Jesus, what a boor. All those years, above in his surgery, looking down on the rest of the village. The way he treated Tess and Ginny was terrible. And he was never mad about you either, was he?’

‘That hardly matters,’ said Tom, his voice annoyingly feeble. What he was hearing was familiar and strange. Right and wrong.

Conor didn’t react, just resumed his monologue. ‘Who would blame Helen if she did have an affair with Father Galvin? Actually, that sounds tawdry and, judging by what Hannah told me, there was nothing tawdry about their relationship. They were in love. Nina had been shipped off to that god-awful boarding school, which gave her mother a little more freedom. Leo was on the verge of leaving the priesthood. Perhaps the two were making plans for a life together. So, what happened? Did Helen get careless? Did Emmet find out?’