Jude nodded agreement. She had never believed in sugar-coating unarguably bad news, particularly when dealing with a realist like Shannon Shefford. ‘But she doesn’t seem to be in much pain,’ she said.

‘Thanks to you for that.’

Jude shrugged. ‘I think the morphine’s doing as much as I am.’

‘No, you’re really helping. She looks forward to your visits. With the GP, it’s all done remotely. Mum hasn’t actually seen a doctor since she’s been unable to get to the surgery. They don’t do home visits any more. Mum just talks on the phone to him – or her; she never seems to get the same one. And, recently, I’ve been doing most of the talking to the surgery. Mum’s not really up to it.’

‘Remotely or not, the GP does seem to be getting the dosage right.’

‘I suppose so. Controlling the pain. That’s all that can be done now.’ Shannon was seized by a sudden burst of emotion and turned away towards the sink as she said, ‘I don’t know how I’ll manage when Mum finally does go. I’ll miss her terribly. I know she can be a bit of a cow at times, and she’s horrible to Billy, but I’ve always loved her to bits.’

‘I’m sure she’s loved you too.’

‘Yes. No worries about that.’ She was caught by a new spasm of grief. ‘And the thought of organizing another funeral, so soon after Bill’s …’ Her words were drowned in deep, torso-shuddering sobs.

Jude saw an opening. ‘I gather Malee was at Bill’s funeral.’

‘She couldn’t not be, could she? She was technically his wife.’

‘More than “technically”.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She was his wife – full stop.’

‘All right.’ The distinction didn’t seem important to Shannon.

‘And I gather, at the funeral, no one spoke to her.’

‘So? Are you asking me to apologize for that? Feel sorry about it? We’re talking about a woman who parachuted herself into our family and ruined everything!’

‘Have you ever talked to her, Shannon?’

‘Not more than I have to. Why should I? Would you talk to someone who destroyed your husband’s future?’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I mean that, until Malee appeared on the scene,’ the name was marinated in contempt, ‘everyone knew that Bill was going to leave the garage to Billy. Now Bill’s dead and that foreign tart is going to inherit everything.’ Clearly, Shannon could match her mother when it came to xenophobia.

‘I heard that you asked Malee if you could search her house for Bill’s will.’

‘Yes, I did. And she refused to let me.’

‘A friend of mine knows for certain that Bill did actually make a will.’

‘Of course he did. That’s why Malee wouldn’t let me look for it.’

‘Sorry, I’m not with you.’