He says, ‘I never hurt her.’

After Breslin’s voice, his sounds weightless, a spindly thing floating on the hot air.

‘But you did go into her house,’ I say.

‘No. I swear.’

‘The Technical Bureau is processing the clothes you wore that night. What are you going to say when we find her carpet fibres on your trousers?’

‘You can’t. You won’t. I wasn’t in there.’

Breslin says, ‘No one else was.’

‘But the guy, the stalker guy—’

‘Oh, please. Did you seriously believe you were the first person to think of looking at Aislinn’s social life? Every guy who ever smiled at her, Rory, we’ve been all over him like a rash. Every one of them’s been eliminated. Have you got one reason, just one tiny reason, why I should believe your stalker exists?’

A sudden jerk out of Rory, his hands coming up. ‘Wait. Yes. There was a guy, on Saturday in the street I saw a guy—’

Our very own Pez machine: push open his mouth and out pops a brand-new story. I roll my eyes. Breslin laughs, a great full-blooded roar that slams Rory back in his chair. ‘Right. Only then aliens abducted you and wiped your memory, and it’s only just conveniently coming back.’

‘No—’

‘A piano fell on your head and you got amnesia.’

‘I didn’t—’

‘On Sunday you told us flat out that you didn’t remember seeing anyone in Stoneybatter except a bunch of teenagers playing football and some girls on a night out. There was no guy, Rory.’

Rory tries to talk, but that voice crashes through his like it’s a spiderweb, leaves it in tatters. ‘There’s nothing but you. Every piece we turn over, it’s got your face on it. The stalker was you, Rory. We all know it. Every single thing you told us about him, it turns out to have been you all along. The only thing left is the part where he knocks at Aislinn’s door and it all goes wrong – and guess what? That’ll turn out to be you, too.’

‘No it won’t. I was never in her house. Never.’

By this time he looks about a tenth of Breslin’s size, but he’s turned into all glare and chin. Not so easy to shove any more. We’ve found Rory’s sticking point.

I move in my chair. ‘There’s one more thing I think is important,’ I say, to Breslin.

‘We don’t need anything else, Conway. We’ve got plenty.’ Breslin reaches across to sweep the photos away from Rory and slaps them into a stack. ‘Let’s just put him under arrest, go get some dinner and come back to this afterwards.’

The word arrest opens Rory’s mouth, but only breath comes out. His eyes, white-ringed with terror, go to me. Shit just got real.

‘Hang on,’ I say to Breslin. ‘Hear me out.’