‘While you’re with Breslin this morning, see if you can get a voice sample. Just record a minute of the conversation on your phone. Then send it to me, if you can’t get away from him, and I’ll take it down to Stoneybatter.’

He nods. My phone beeps. ‘Here we go,’ I say, pulling it out. ‘Keep your fingers crossed.’

‘They are. Believe me.’

The e-mail says Here, and a list of dates and times. It has twenty-nine pics attached. I swipe through them: yellow Post-it, 8W inside a circle. Post-it, 1030 inside a circle. Post-it, 7 inside a circle, in the background a sliver of purple that looks like Aislinn’s sitting-room curtains. Post-it, 7Th inside a circle, chunk of a thumb in one corner.

I say, ‘Times and days.’

‘Looks like.’

‘Remember we were wondering how the secret boyfriend could’ve made appointments with Aislinn?’

Steve flicks the edge of my phone with one fingernail. ‘Low-tech. The safest way.’

‘And we didn’t find any of these in the search of her gaff.’ I keep swiping: 11, 6M, 745. ‘When Breslin knows he’s got some free time coming up, he sticks a note through Aislinn’s letterbox, letting her know what time she needs to be ready and waiting in her good lingerie. Then, when he gets there, he takes the note back and destroys it. Just like we said: he’s careful.’

Steve reaches over and enlarges the 745 on my screen. ‘You figure that matches Breslin’s writing?’

‘Hard to tell. There’s nothing that clashes, anyway. And I’ve seen him write times like that, without the full stop.’

‘Plenty of cops do that.’

‘Yeah, but not a lot of civilians. That might narrow it down.’

‘Even then . . .’ Steve shakes his head. ‘A handwriting expert’s not going to give us a match on this much.’

‘No way,’ I say. I go back to swiping: 9F, 630W, 7. ‘And Breslin would know that. Again: not taking any chances.’

‘No way he was planning on killing Aislinn from the start.’

‘No, but he wasn’t planning on leaving his wife for her, either. Breslin likes his life. He likes his kids. He likes his house, and his car, and his fancy sun holidays. Probably he even likes his wife, more or less. He liked Aislinn, too, but not enough to risk losing all the rest of it. If she went bunny-boiler on him, he didn’t want her having any evidence she could show his wife.’

‘He did a good job.’ Steve doesn’t look happy about it.