‘Oh my God, they’ll know. They’ll all know. I can’t . . . Annie! She won’t be able to cope. She’s ill. She has anxiety. She’ll never forgive me for this. We’ll have to move. And she won’t move. She was born here. It’s her home! That’s why I stole from Mrs Fullworth, to save Annie’s home. She needs stability. Oh, God . . . our neighbours, our friends, our families will find out that I betrayed them all! I did this! Jacob Mulhern . . . that was me! It was all me!’ Charlotte backed herself into the corner of the room and slid to the floor. Her body trembled and she gasped for breath. ‘I’m not talking anymore. I take it all back. Please! Please let me take it back!’

Jack and Bevan calmly watched her meltdown, knowing that all of this raw emotion was better out than in. When he felt she was ready, Jack spoke. ‘There’s no going back, Charlotte.’ Jack’s voice was filled with a simple honesty. He wasn’t going to lie to her. ‘The only thing you can do now is make amends. Accept what you started – and work with me to end it.’

Jack paused for a minute or two, allowing Charlotte to fully take in her situation.

‘I tried to get myself out of it,’ she said finally. ‘When he called and asked me for the second address, I said no.’ Charlotte kept her head bowed as she spoke. ‘He was so calm. He said something about having to live with the decisions we make. He called me a good person. And then he hung up. I was out of the house for six hours, doing my deliveries, and when I got home, Annie was in tears. She’d found our cat on the doorstep. Dead. He’d been caught in barbed wire, she said. And he’d walked home to die. His body was in a shoebox. As I was burying him in the orchard, I got a text message: We live with the decisions we make. . . The next day he called again and I gave him the second address.’ Charlotte glanced up from the safety of her corner. Her damp hair almost covered her eyes.

Jack spoke softly.