Silence for the last eight minutes of the journey. We crunched on the sandy gravel as we hit the dirt road leading to the trailer. As we came closer I could see the floodlight ablaze above its front door. We parked side by side. We all got out. But when Klara tried to move toward me Teresa grabbed her and shoved the gun into her back.

‘Don’t even think about making another move until I give you permission,’ she hissed. Todor glared at her, putting his finger to his lips, indicating silence was necessary right now. I wanted to go over and throttle Teresa. But with her pistol pressed against my daughter I could do nothing. Klara stared straight ahead, rage across her face. Ricky was jumpy. Hair-trigger jumpy. Pacing back and forth, wanting to burst into the trailer. Todor put a steadying hand on his shoulder and told him to stand back. He then indicated that I should now go in through the front door.

But suddenly I heard shouting inside. Elise yelling:

‘No, Amber, no!’

Then the door flew open. There was a gun in Amber’s hand. It exploded. The shot hit the dirt at Teresa’s feet. Immediately Teresa returned fire, hitting Amber in the belly. At which moment Elise dived out from the trailer, pushing Amber into the dirt below. Teresa now blasted away, hitting Elise in the chest and the neck. I screamed. I rushed forward, managing to break Elise’s fall as she tipped over. I could hear Klara yelling. Ricky went insane. He ran over to Teresa, slammed his gun across her face, screaming murder. Then he turned his pistol on her, firing several times into her head.

Blood was pouring out of Elise. I held her close, one hand on her gaping wounds. She tried to touch my face. She couldn’t. I looked into her eyes. They were swimming with trauma, disbelief. She whispered one word:

‘Why?’

Then she went still in my arms.

I buried my face against her. Howling. For a moment I lost all sense of where I was – clutching Elise, my hands trying to stop the blood pumping out of her, telling myself over and over: she can’t be dead … she can’t be dead …

Then I heard Klara screaming at me to call 911. I looked up, seeing that she’d thrown herself across Amber’s gaping wound. Ricky fell to his knees by us, reaching for his phone, crying while telling Amber that she would be all right, that the baby would live, that he’d get her to a hospital, that …