‘With the intention of what? Blackmailing her? Go ahead. Give it your best shot. There’s no case for misconduct here.’ He watched her expression change. ‘Oh but you know that! You’ve talked to a solicitor then? What, a no-win, no-fee one?’ Her features hardened and Aidan knew that he was right. That he was gaining the upper hand.

‘Maybe she’s done nothing wrong, but does your family need the stress of an investigation?’

‘The board wouldn’t call an investigation on the grounds that a doctor was upset over a patient suffering an episode like this and had questioned herself. It’s natural. Normal. We all wonder whether there is more we could have done. But… there’s no grounds… surgery was textbook perfect. I’m sorry.’ Aidan wasn’t. ‘But you’re barking up the wrong tree. Barking mad. Get out.’

Confidently, his fingers clutched the ignition key, began to twist it.

‘Would Connor look at it that way?’

Aidan froze.

‘I can imagine he’s pretty upset? Was in love with my girl. How will he react if he heard his mum saying that she was too tired to operate. Exhausted. Thinks she made a mistake. Would he think there was grounds for blame. Would he forgive her?’

‘If you…’ His voice was even. ‘If you try to blackmail me I will tell the police.’

‘Fucked if I care.’ She shrugged. ‘The damage will be done once I’ve spoken to your boy. Speaking of your boy, that isn’t all by the way.’ Julie pressed play again. Lucy’s voice filled the truck once more. ‘What do you think really happened to Hailey?’

‘The boys said—’

‘I know what the boys said,’ Lucy interrupted Melissa. ‘But a broken femur, stumbling into a pothole. I don’t buy it. They’re lying. And… if we stay silent we’re helping them cover whatever really happened up, but if we report them… goodness knows what trouble they could be in.’

‘I think they’re lying too. Ryan can barely look at me. Fergus keeps asking him what really happened, he feels so awful he was supervising and didn’t realize they’d left the building. Ryan sticks to the same story though, and Tyler. We have to stand by them,’ Mel said. ‘Publicly and privately.’

Julie snapped off the recording. ‘Hear that, Aidan? Your wife knew they were lying and said nothing. What did your boy do? There were four of them there that night, Stephen said—’

‘Connor didn’t do anything. Hailey fell. It was an accident.’

‘So they’re not to blame. Your wife isn’t to blame. Somebody has to be. Somebody.’ Julie slammed her palm against the glove box again emphasizing each word. ‘Has. To. Pay.’

‘No,’ he said quietly.

‘Suit yourself.’ She flashed him a sudden smile.