‘No.’ Veronica felt foolish admitting it. ‘But the only reason he would have kept it from me would have been to protect me. He knew how upset I got whenever Andrew got into trouble.’

‘Why do you think your husband refused on that occasion?’

‘This is not easy to admit.’ Veronica hung her head and let out a small sigh. ‘But Dennis had given up on Andrew.’

Elly chewed the inside of her cheek feeling like she was in the audience of The Jeremy Kyle Show.

‘We have helped Andrew financially time and time again. He always promises that it will be the last time… until we receive another call. It has been never-ending. His father was so disappointed. It pained him that his son was a drug addict and a criminal. I suppose he’d just had enough.’ She paused, considering something for a moment. ‘I have to ask, why was Andrew arrested in November?’ She wasn’t sure she really wanted to hear the answer.

‘He was found with herbal cannabis.’

Francesca kissed her teeth and shook her head, completely unsurprised by the revelation. ‘That boy,’ she muttered to herself.

Veronica glared at her sister. ‘He is your family too.’ She gently reminded her.

Francesca stiffened in her seat.

‘I have to tell you that we believe Andrew has been in a car crash.’ Palmer said it as softly as he could, but it made no difference. The impact of the words was still there.

‘A crash?’ Veronica looked horrified.

‘The French police found his car on the side of a motorway. It had collided into a tree. There was no sign of Andrew but we do believe he might be injured.’

For the first time since the whole affair had begun, Francesca found herself worried about Andrew. It was not a feeling she was familiar with and she wasn’t sure how to cope with it, especially when Veronica turned to her looking terrified.

‘He’s injured?’ Her voice shook.

‘We doubt it is very serious.’ Elly tried to soothe Veronica. ‘But we do think it would be best if he handed himself in.’

‘The French police are releasing a picture of Andrew to the news channels over there, in the hope that someone might have seen him.’

This was the final straw for Veronica. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, as she stood up, knocking over and breaking the bone china cup, ‘I can’t do this.’

Francesca sprang into action and immediately started to mop up the tepid tea that was threatening to pool off the pine table onto the vinyl tiles below. ‘She’s very upset,’ she apologised as her sister disappeared out of the kitchen. They heard the sound of her footsteps on the stairs. ‘It’s an extremely difficult time. And what with it being Christmas.’