‘They say not. They say she is completely unaware of her surroundings, but I’m not convinced.’ Nikki took Hannah’s hand and gently massaged her fingers. ‘She breathes for herself, she goes into a sleep cycle, and she wakes up, but it’s widely accepted that any other movements or noises she makes are just involuntary.’

‘This must be so hard for you.’ Joseph’s voice crackled with emotion.

‘It was worse when she was in the coma. At least this is a slightly better neurological situation.’

‘Nikki! Hello. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you come in.’

‘Hi, Bob.’ She turned and indicated towards Joseph. ‘This is a colleague of mine, skiving off active duty at present. Joseph, Bob Trainer, one of Hannah’s ministering angels. Or one of her specialist nurses, as they like to be called. So, how’s my girl doing today?’

‘I was just going to bathe her. She had a great workout with the physio earlier, didn’t you, Han?’

‘We’d better leave you then,’ said Nikki.

‘No hurry. Have you got a moment before you go, Nikki? Hannah’s consultant asked me to give you a letter if I saw you. It’s in the office.’

Nikki’s heart lurched in her chest. Please, not like this, not after all this time. Surely not in a letter! Somehow she kept it together, and said, ‘Would you stay with her, Joseph, just for a minute or two?’

‘My pleasure. Time we got acquainted. I’ve got such a lot to tell this girl about her mother.’

Nikki followed the nurse into the office. ‘Do you know what the letter is about, Bob?’ She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice.

‘I do, actually. And I know he also wants to talk to you personally about it.’

A shiver rippled from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. She wasn’t ready for this. Not on top of everything else that had happened recently. ‘And?’

Bob Trainer smiled at her. ‘We did a functional MRI scan yesterday.’

‘I know, I consented to it, but I didn’t know you’d done it already.’

‘It threw up some very slight differences from the last one we did.’

Nikki stared at him. ‘For the better, or—’

Bob rubbed his hands together. ‘Let’s just say that her consultant, Mr Leyton, has been in touch with the cognition and brain sciences unit at Cambridge. He wants to do further tests and he wants their expertise. That’s what this letter is, an explanation and a consent form for you to sign. He would have spoken to you himself, but he’s in Liege in Belgium at the University. He’s taken Hannah’s case to them for review.’

For a moment Nikki felt as though she might pass out.