It was true. They had both been through a lot worse than a stupid court case. Despite her words of comfort she could see Pauline was nervous. Nicole was terrified, Thomas up one moment and down the next. Molly didn’t feel fear. She felt anger, and it increased when she spotted her accusers. Arseholes.

The courtroom was small. Molly and the three other defendants sat on a bench to the left-hand side. The solicitors for each side were in the middle of the room, the family and friends of the defendants on the left, and those of the prosecution on the right. A woman in uniform yelled the words ‘All rise,’ and Judge Diarmuid Ryan appeared through a wooden door at the top of the room and sat in his seat, looking down at the solicitors, with their stacks of paper and unnecessarily thick folders, flapping his arms. ‘Sit, sit, sit. We haven’t got all day.’ Molly watched as the main door opened and Sergeant Kevin Fogarty and his partner Edel Flynn entered and sat in the front row. He nodded at Molly as he sat and she nodded back. Despite the room being small, it was hard to hear the solicitors as they outlined their case.

‘Can you hear them?’ Pauline asked.

‘A word here and there,’ Molly said.

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ Thomas said.

‘My feet are in bits,’ Nicole said.

‘I’m sorry, are we disturbing you?’ the judge said.

‘You would be if we could hear anything that’s going on,’ Molly said.

Mark sighed and shook his head.

‘Speak up, for God’s sake.’

It was all fuss about nothing. Mark pleaded guilty on behalf of them all.

‘And you understand what a guilty plea means?’ the judge said.

‘We’re not stupid,’ Molly mumbled.

Pauline squeezed Molly’s hand.

‘Can I just beg the court’s indulgence for a moment?’ Mark asked.

‘You wouldn’t be earning your money if you didn’t,’ the judge said.

Mark went on to talk about what good characters the four were, and mentioned their ages and ailments. It should have been straightforward, but then the judge spoke to Molly.

‘Impeding men doing their jobs should be a crime, non-payment of water charges and leaching off the state should also be a crime, but happily false imprisonment is a crime, and a serious one at that. You’re elderly and your solicitor is using your age as a reason for this court to treat this matter lightly, but I believe your age should have better informed you as to the meaning of right and wrong. One year’s suspended sentence and a five hundred-euro fine each. And I hope that, even in your twilight years, it is not too late to learn a valuable lesson.’