She sat down on the hard bed with her things beside her, shaking and crying, a terrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. What to do? God, what to do? Go to the police? And risk Laura’s life?

She had never missed her husband more than at this moment. What would her lovely sensible Nick have done, she wondered?

So often he used to quote an old saying of his father’s – that life could turn on a sixpence. He was also fond of quoting, ‘Live every day as if it’s your last, because one day you’ll be right.’

And he had been right. The day their lives had turned on a damned sixpence, or rather on that sodding van driver’s mobile phone screen, and whilst he would be out of prison in just eighteen months, for causing death by dangerous driving, she and Laura were doomed to a life sentence.

Yes, my darling, darling Nick, you were so right. And, God, I need you here now so badly. I need to talk to you. I need your advice. What would it have been? You were always so wise, you’d have found a solution, the one I hadn’t thought of. I know you would.

She eventually undressed and went to bed, but sleep for a long while was impossible. The clock radio filled the room with a green glow and there was a loud, persistent drip-drip-drip from a broken pipe or gutter just beyond her window.

The night ticked by, one slow minute at a time. Finally, she dozed off, only to wake with a start and a terrible feeling of dread.

3.38 a.m.

Then 3.39 a.m.

What to do? What the hell should she do?

She and Nick had tried to instil in their children always to do what they felt was the right thing, despite what anyone might think or say to the contrary. Will and Laura had been very close. He had been a huge champion of the issue of climate change, which was why Laura now, bless her, had become almost messianic in her zeal to stop the use of plastic bags and any single-use plastic items, among other things she tried to do for the environment. She cared, really cared, about her fellow human beings and all animals, and Meg loved that about her. She was proud of the kind and thoughtful young woman Laura had become.

But now she was faced with a dilemma she just could not get her head around. A dilemma that so wracked her with fear she struggled to think straight. It felt as if her brain was revolving like a tombola drum, tossing all her thoughts around like the raffle tickets inside. The only good way out of this situation would be if Terence Gready was so obviously innocent of all charges that the verdicts on every count could not be in doubt.