Oh, it’s quite flattering, he said, clearing his throat theatrically. ‘I actually talked to her today. Not the usual how’s yer da? and do you need any messages? About books and stuff. I couldn’t stop looking at her. She caught me once, and smiled at me. Until Mandy ruined it, calling me a kid. Jesus. Looking up the stairs at me with those eyes.’

That’s just daft, she said, it means nothing. So what if he was looking at me?

I’m sure I can find a better example, he said, bending the book, the pages flipping past as if he was a card sharp. He stopped abruptly. Here we are. There is an entry from Easter Sunday, an account of a phone call. ‘She called me Michael. Who the fuck is this Michael?’ Oh and after an encounter on the doorstep, he wrote this: ‘All she sees is a teenager, but there are things she doesn’t know about me.’

She had wondered if Tommy fancied her but had thought little of it. At that age she had been prone to brief, extravagant infatuations with boys she didn’t dare speak to, Eamonn’s mates, the sons of her father’s friends. But ‘there are things she doesn’t know about me’? What did that mean?

Michael phoned me sometimes in the evenings. I presumed it was him. I never gave his surname.

You spoke to Tommy McGeown two days ago, after the murder. There’s so much he needs to tell you, apparently. When you two go for a drink.

You’re twisting everything, Cushla said. I told him I’d maybe go out with him, because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

How did the McGeown family come to reside in your house?

They stayed for one night! Davy phoned me to tell me their house was on fire and I drove up and took them away. I didn’t know Tommy had been lifted.

It’s not looking great, he said, replacing the notebook in the folder.

You don’t seriously believe I had anything to do with it?

You are the connection between the victim and his killer.

It’s a fucking coincidence! she said, getting to her feet. His lip had curled in distaste at the sound of the curse. Don’t swear, thingy, she thought.

Sit down, Miss Lavery, he said.

She lowered herself on to her hands to keep them from shaking. Look, I know I didn’t do anything.

If there’s a connection, I’ll find it.

What happens now?

It’s up to you.

What does that mean?

You could stand in the corner and take your clothes off.

What?

He laughed. I can keep you here for up to seven days.