“What? I didn’t. That’s not . . .”

“Stay away from me and stay away from my cases.”

He stalked away, leaving her shattered. Pale of cheek and aware of the stares from the few officers left in the room, she took a breath, then another. Under the table, she clenched her fists. She was reeling, that was true, but her eyes were bone dry.

Chapter Seventeen

Aifric

Aifric was walking from court back to the office when Carrie called her. She answered and kept walking, one hand holding her phone to her ear, the other tugging her heavy wheeled court bag behind her.

“Carrie?” Aifric said. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Carrie said. She cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m fine.”

She didn’t sound fine. Her voice was raw and strained. Aifric slowed to a halt. Foot traffic flowed around her. Aifric looked toward the river on that gray Dublin day and suppressed a shiver.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Talk to me about the Collins case.”

“What? What do you want to know?”

“I want to know that you’re going to win.”

“What’s going on? You don’t sound like yourself.” Aifric pressed her phone harder to her ear but heard only silence. “Carrie, talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”

“I went to Charlie. I told him what I’d done. He was furious. He wants me out of the gardaí.”

Aifric closed her eyes. “Oh, God. Oh, Carrie.”

“It was stupid. I know it was stupid. I just wanted to make things right, but I think . . . someone’s been in his ear. He was already thinking the worst of me, and then I just gave him more ammunition.”

Carrie sounded utterly defeated. “Look, maybe you need to give it a bit of time. The guards, they’re a big organization. Keep your head down, do good work. You’ll get another chance.” It was a lie. She was lying to her sister. If Carrie had pissed off the wrong person, there might be no way back for her. But Aifric was thinking about Séan, and she was afraid.

“Listen,” Carrie said, “he’s not going to do anything about the case. He’s not going to interview Evelyn again, or check the CCTV footage from the pub, or . . . anything. So what are we going to do?”

“There’s nothing else for you to do. You need to let all that go and concentrate on fixing your own situation.”

“You haven’t sounded very confident. About the case, I mean.”

“Carrie, Jesus, let it go. You can’t take all of this so personally. I’m sorry I ever dragged you into it. You just . . . you need to leave it.”

“What if you used me?”

“Sorry?”

“As a witness. What if you called me as a witness for the defense?”

“Carrie.”

“I can’t let it go. I don’t think he did it. Think about Séan, Aifric.”

“Robert Collins is not our brother. He’s nothing like Séan. And I can’t even say for sure that Robert’s innocent—neither of us can. I think the evidence to prove his guilt isn’t there, but that doesn’t make him innocent.”