‘Of course.’ Liv found her tone dropping even lower. ‘And there have been no other visitors?’ She was thinking of M. The note attached to the gift he’d been carrying when the accident happened. For some reason, unclear even to Liv, she’d stashed the gift in her own locker, hoping for a chance to meet the mysterious M and pass it on, without upsetting Estelle. As the night had worn on, she’d become more convinced that the gift was for a lover; he was probably having an affair. He was, she confirmed again with one more glance, a very attractive man. ‘It’s a long time to be sitting there,’ she said as the ICU nurse began to close out the door so she could return to her duties.

Liv set off for the coffee shop on the ground floor. Everything was closed up today, but the concession owner had left the coffee machine outside the shutters and on a nearby table a selection of pastries and sandwiches with best-by dates probably better ignored as the day wore on. Still, it was a thoughtful festive gesture. Staff needed coffee breaks to keep going; today more than any other it was a vital service. She made two cups of strong coffee and slipped milk, sugar and a couple of small pastries in her bag. She had a feeling that Estelle probably wasn’t a chocolate woman, not with that figure, but Liv needed sugar this morning like usually she needed air. The journey back to the flat alone would be enough to test a saint, what with only skeleton bus services and the icy roads.

This time when she arrived outside the ward, she managed to catch Estelle’s eye. She held up the coffee cup and motioned her to come out and join her.

‘God, that’s good,’ Estelle said after taking her first sip of hot black coffee.

‘Actually, it’s not really, but with the night you’ve spent here, anything probably would taste good.’

‘I couldn’t sleep.’ Estelle blew across the surface of her cup. As Liv had expected, she’d turned down the offer of food, even the one protein bar that Liv found at the bottom of her bag.

‘No.’ Liv knew that feeling well, sitting there all night long, with a knot in your stomach, waiting for something to happen. It was a completely different sort of exhaustion to actually working the night through.

‘I was just so worried. I mean, even today, they can’t tell me how he is or what’s going to happen to him.’ A large tear formed at the corner of her eye. ‘Sorry,’ she said, as she managed to blow her nose elegantly, like a cute kitten compared to the blubbering wreck Liv would have been if she’d been in the same boat. ‘You’re really very good, bringing coffee up to me. I…’