‘No, I need to be there too or I’ll be found out,’ she said as Declan shot off towards a side alley that would take him onto the high street.

‘To hell with that!’ Declan called back to her. ‘You don’t have to lie any more, not for me.’

Claudia wasn’t doing it for him, and she ran as if her life depended on it, keeping to the back alleys until she reached the crowd of theatregoers spilling out onto the road in front of the Empress. The roof was ablaze.

Out of breath and with a stitch in her side, Claudia couldn’t decide what to do next until she saw Declan coming out of the front entrance carrying a child. Not content with saving one person, he headed down the side alley. Claudia followed with her head down and her coat collar up.

It was surreal. The smell of smoke had intensified and the people emerging through the fire doors were covered in dust. There was a little boy wailing loudly.

‘Someone has to help Mrs Clarke! She’s trapped upstairs!’

Declan stopped and glanced back. His eyes were wide with shock as he took one last look, and then he was gone. Claudia was slower to react, and it was only when a woman grabbed her arm to leave a bloodied handprint that she was spurred into action.

35

Claudia jogged at a steady pace as she crossed a footbridge that spanned the canal junction at Raven Brook Marina. She was unaware that Leanne lived nearby, but the reporter was on her mind. The Courier could print whatever it liked. Claudia had given her statement and she would stand by it.

She would explain how Leanne had placed her under unnecessary duress with leading questions, and how Claudia’s answers had been twisted until she believed what was being suggested. It wasn’t her fault. She was a victim like anyone else. Why couldn’t Leanne simply accept that? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t suffered an enduring loss as a result of the fire, and not just the baby.

Overwhelmed with fear and sadness, Claudia longed for Declan’s touch, but it was her hand that wiped the single tear sliding down her cheek. She had needed their affair to end, but not in the way that it had. For a long time, she had consoled herself that his death provided a neat ending, but as she jogged along the towpath, it didn’t feel so neat any more. Karin was one loose end that needed snipping.