Leanne wanted to know more about what Declan had said about the restoration. It sounded like he was expecting there to be potential faults, but she knew if she pushed again, it would bring the interview to a premature close. It killed her to hold her tongue, but she had to bide her time.

‘It was beautiful inside,’ Beth continued. ‘Not the kind of place you would expect to become the stuff of nightmares.’

‘Where were you sitting?’

‘In the stalls.’

‘And what did you do when the alarm went off?’

‘Grabbed my coat,’ said Beth. ‘I think Karin and I would have been the first ones out of there if the woman next to us hadn’t been in the way. She had all kinds of bags with her and didn’t want to move. She was convinced it was a false alarm, but so was half the theatre. And whoever made the announcement asking us to leave had sounded blasé about it.’

Leanne had listened to the manager’s testimony during the evidential hearings. Although a smoke sensor had been triggered, the fire had been largely contained within the roof space at that point, and staff were initially confused because they couldn’t find any sign a fire, just a faint whiff of smoke. Because the hearings were simply a fact-finding exercise for the public inquiry, Leanne and the rest of the town were still waiting to find out how that could happen. It had to be faulty installation.

‘We made our way to the back of the auditorium,’ Beth continued. ‘Heading for the foyer along with everyone else. I doubt we were the only ones planning to head straight to the bars, but there were definitely some who dragged their heels, hoping the alarm would be cancelled before we reached the street.’

‘And you were still with Karin at that point?’

‘Yeah, and then the whole world imploded. The lights went out and there was this huge surge of bodies. The emergency lighting came on, but we’d been hit by a massive dust cloud. Not that I needed to see to know what was happening. I could hear.’

Beth pursed her lips. Her experience up until that point had been easy to recount. What came next was the nightmare that haunted not only Beth. Leanne’s mouth had gone dry.

‘People all around were screaming and coughing and, ahead of me, I could hear others crying out for help. And then it got quieter. We were all struggling to breathe, with those ahead of us faring the worst. I hate to think what part I played trying to force my way out. I wasn’t thinking about anyone else, just me and Karin.’

‘Did you make it out through the front?’ asked Leanne, ignoring the lump in her throat.