Nina zoned out. A piercing pain had developed over her eyes and under her cheekbones. There was something absurd about Tom being on the news. This was about her family, his family, their village. Obviously it was also about the Galvins. But listening to the wider repercussions on the radio made her lightheaded. It wasn’t as though the ways of the media were unfamiliar to her. She’d met Julian because he’d wanted to put Kilmitten on the television. During the recession, his father had been a regular fixture in the papers. He’d even featured on a TV documentary, squashing designer shopping bags into the boot of his Lexus while his building business collapsed around him, a reporter asking if he had a message for his impoverished investors. Nina had felt detached from all of that. Now, though, the story was personal, and she didn’t want any part of it to be feasted on by others.

Unwelcome thoughts were seeping into her head. She thought of Tom, and the blend of cowardice, kindness and misplaced loyalty that had led to his silence. She wondered whether his political career, his relentless desire to campaign and fix and renovate, had been motivated by the secret he’d kept. Had he been trying to compensate for not telling the truth, or was that too simplistic? Oh, Tom, she thought, I didn’t deserve your loyalty. She thought of Bea, Alannah and Julian and what she would tell them. She thought of Tess and Ginny. It was hard to comprehend that, only hours earlier, Tess had told her about Ginny being raped.

Most of all, she thought of her mother. She tried telling herself that Tom had been mistaken or that there was some other explanation. She pictured her mam in her everyday clothes, her soft trousers and cashmere sweater. Her brown eyes would widen with astonishment. She’d laugh her musical laugh and say, ‘Oh, Nina, pet, you’ve got it all wrong. What actually happened was …’ And Nina would feel foolish and cheap for having doubted her.

She was jolted out of her reverie by Conor. ‘If you need anything,’ he said, ‘just shout. We can stop if you want a coffee or a bottle of water.’

‘Or anything at all,’ added Tess, a strained brightness to her voice.

Nina assured them that she was fine.