There’s a muffled sound. Lucy is crying.

‘I never should have operated. Her blood pressure was high and…’

‘Blood pressure in patients is usually high. White coat syndrome. You weren’t to know that hypertension runs in her family. She’s a little overweight but…’

‘But what if I missed something?’ Lucy’s voice is high and anguished. ‘I was tired. Exhausted. I should have finished my shift but Connor wanted me, begged me… oh God.’ Again tears. The spurt of a coffee machine. ‘Did I miss something?’

Julie clicks off the recording and watches him. Waiting for a reaction. Inside, Aidan’s organs twisted and writhed and fought to be free but on the outside he was impassive.

‘Get out. I’m leaving.’ He pulled his seatbelt across his body. Put his hand on the gear leaver and hoped that Julie did not see the tremble of his fingers. ‘Get out,’ he said again when Julie made no move to do so.

‘I won’t.’

Aidan’s heart galloped out the rhythm: ‘I won’t-I won’t-I won’t-I won’t’.

‘What…’ Aidan’s mouth was incredibly dry. His tongue felt incredibly thick. He eyed up his bottle of water in the centre console but wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she had unnerved him.

Unnerved wasn’t strong enough.

He was petrified.

‘What do you want?’ He loathed to think. ‘Money?’

She cocked her head to one side, he could almost hear her thoughts slipping around.

‘Because you’re not getting cash from me. Recording my wife is… immoral, probably illegal and proves nothing. Hailey’s stroke was a terrible, terrible accident. Lucy wasn’t at fault.’

‘But she thinks she was,’ Julie said. ‘And so do I. High blood pressure runs in the family. What kind of doctor doesn’t even pick that up?’

‘When people are anxious, distressed, in pain, their blood pressure rises. I see it every day with the animals—’

‘We’re not animals,’ she threw at him.

‘Well, Hailey isn’t,’ he bounced back. ‘Where did you record that anyway?’

‘The hospital canteen. Stephen let me know about Hailey, God knows how he found me, and I went in to see her. I… I do… I am fond of her, despite how it seems. I looked through the window and she was… just lying there and I couldn’t… Fuck!’ She slammed her palm against the glove box. A stinging slap that Aidan felt in his own hand. ‘Anyway, I went to get a coffee and overheard your wife and her friend and realized they were talking about my daughter and so I recorded them.’