Rhona Hampton died soon afterwards. Shannon, who’d always ‘loved her Mum to bits’, was devastated. Jude went to the funeral. So did Red, who had reacquainted himself with the old woman in her final weeks. A month or so later, he started taking Billy Shefford with him on Sunday fishing trips.

Malee, cheated of her husband’s real revised will, spent a lot of money with solicitors, reinstating its provisions. It took a long time, but Shefford’s Garage finally became the property of Billy Shefford. He began trying to negotiate with Nissan about the possibly of making it into a dealership for them. They weren’t very interested.

His wife Shannon, meanwhile, kept saying it was all pointless because soon people wouldn’t be allowed to use cars, thus giving the planet a chance of survival. She thought it very unlikely that either of their sons would want to go into the garage business when they grew up.

Until the change to a dealership came – and there was a strong suspicion it never would come – Shefford’s continued as it always had. The elderly residents of Fethering appreciated that Billy Shefford would pick up their cars and return them when they required servicing. And that they could get filled up with fuel without getting out of their cars.

Frankie continued working at Shefford’s as she always had. And continued changing her hair colour every month, accumulating new perforations and different unsuitable men.

Once the business of the garage had been sorted, Malee returned to Thailand. Carole heard the news some months later on the village grapevine. She felt a moment of guilt for not having been back in touch with the woman, but it soon passed. Carole Seddon wasn’t any more racist than any other middle-class Englishwoman of her age and background.

Fethering could be very cruel to people who didn’t fit its templates.

Tom Kendrick continued, subsidized by his mother, to do very little.

Karen and Chrissie did actually move to Hebden Bridge, where they continued to be blissfully happy.

The court proceedings against Jeremiah and Dr Rawley, in the way of the English law, took a long time to reach fruition.

The threatening behaviour towards Jude was the unequivocal charge that could be brought against them. The police had witnessed it and there was confirmatory video footage of the attack.

But the false cancer cure they were peddling through VADJ Trading on the Internet came into a grey area of international law which is still not adequately policed. They were made to take down their web presence but it was very difficult to find proof of the actual harm that they had done.

And, of course, their main crime, the misleading diagnosis and treatment which had led Bill Shefford to take his own life … well, that could never be proved.