He frowned, opened his mouth. Everything in his face shut away. He exhaled and turned his shoulder towards her.

‘You blame yourself, but it’s not your fault.’

‘Nobody said it was my fault,’ he snapped back. ‘ I never said it was.’

‘But then why are you torturing yourself? How can you bear to be so close to that man? Do I have to be the one to remind you: his profiteering killed your daughter.’

He shook his head, a scathing pity in his eyes. ‘You really think you’ve got the power make a difference in the world, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, I—’

Snuffing out a bitter laugh, Vincent shook his head; he hefted his bag and stalked off without looking back.

17

17 ‘Hello. Am I speaking to Petra Orff?’

‘Uh.’ For a moment, she honestly wasn’t sure – she’d been dreaming, lost in the shadowed forest from Cabinet again, the crucified angels hanging backlit like terrible Christmas ornaments, undulating mechanically, pretending to show her the way out, but only leading her deeper, deeper into the centre of the wood, where the feast table was set up. ‘Yeah. Yeah, it is.’ What time was it even? She felt like she’d had negative sleep.

The details of the last night filled themselves in. The sweet time with Vincent that had turned bad. She took the phone away from her ear and glanced at the time. 5:17. No good news could come at 5:17 in the morning.

‘You’re on the next-of-kin register. I have some news about your mother.’

Petra shifted up to sitting. ‘What? What is it?’

‘I’m calling from the MyHealth Clarendon Hospital. Your mother’s been admitted for emergency surgery.’

‘What? Why?’

‘She complained of pain and weakness. The site of her recent cholelithotomy was bleeding.’

‘When was this? When did she come in? Is she alright?’ Why hadn’t Helena called her? How had she got to the hospital? Who had taken her? She didn’t have ambulance services included on her plan.

‘She’s out of surgery. It went well but she’s staying in intensive care for the next few hours.’

‘Why?’

‘Just routine observation. Her system was fairly stressed and we need to ensure she has the fluids she needs.’

‘I’ll come there now.’

‘I can’t say when she’ll be able to see you. When she’s moved onto the ward, visiting hours will be two to seven p.m.’