She screamed. Not the scream of someone enjoying the ride on the roller coaster, that of someone who’d come off the tracks completely. A raw and primal scream burst forth from her lips again, as the female cop, her name already forgotten, moved to sit with her, to do her job and comfort her. Vanessa heard heavy footsteps running down the hallway and Billy burst into the room, hair sticking up wildly. He took in the scene and immediately ran to his wife, wrapping her shaking body in his arms.

‘What’s happened?’ he asked bluntly.

‘Are you Mr Wright, Wren Sawyer’s stepfather?’

‘Yes, what’s happened?’

‘He’s dead?’ said Vanessa, shaking like a leaf. ‘He can’t be dead. Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I’m afraid. There was a car accident.’ the female officer repeated for Billy’s benefit. ‘He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.’

‘It’s not Wren then. He always wore he seatbelt. He was good like that.’ Vanessa tried to convince them that they’d got it wrong. ‘Oh God, Justin? Wade? Are they dead too?’ she asked, guessing that Wren was with them and that they had been in Justin’s car.

‘No, they’re both alive, in hospital with severe injuries but expected to make full recoveries.’

So only her Wren had died.

‘We will need someone to come and identify his body.’ Delicately said but still a knife through the heart.

At this, Vanessa started wailing, the sound of a heart breaking. She kept repeating, ‘No, no, no, no,’ over and over again.

‘I can do the identification,’ Billy offered.

‘He’s my son, I’ll identify him,’ she said weakly. She barely registered the hurt look cross Billy’s face. Wren was his son too. She’d said as much.

‘I’ll ring Maggie and ask her to come over and take care of Ty.’

Within a few minutes, Billy re-entered the lounge, now dressed in pants and shirt. All eyes swung to him. ‘Maggie will be here in ten minutes to watch Ty – Ty is our other son.’ Remaining son.

Not even five minutes later, Maggie burst through the door, using her own key to get into the house. She’d been crying, her eyes already red and puffy. Billy hugged her; Vanessa just watched. She didn’t have the tears right now; they had dried on her face, not even wiped away, like glistening trails. Maggie came over to where she was sitting and bent down in front of her. ‘Ness, I’m so sorry.’ Vanessa looked straight through her, ignoring her like she wasn’t even there.

Billy had a quiet conversation with Maggie, probably about Ty and what to tell him if they weren’t back when he woke up. Just how long does it take to identify someone?

‘Ness, are you sure you want to go? Do—’

‘Yes,’ she snapped.

‘Well you’d better get dressed then. Do you need help?’ Billy asked.