I woke up Thursday feeling jumpy and knowing that if anyone so much as said good morning there was every chance I would do them serious damage. All I wanted was to scratch and kick at something or someone. I don’t know if they’d upped my dosages without telling me, but half an hour after I’d taken my morning meds – fighting the urge to fly across the counter at Femi – things had swung much too far the other way and just walking to the toilet and back felt like wading through treacle.

When Donna walked past it was like she was sprinting.

I knew that the morning was a washout. I was no use to anyone, up and down like a yo-yo, so I went back to bed.

All being well, I’d get stuck into the interviews come the afternoon.

That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

A bit later, before I had a chance to talk to anyone, Jamilah left.

It’s not like there’s a fanfare when it happens or anyone makes an official announcement, so most of the time people just go home or get sent somewhere else without you even knowing. They’re just . . . not there any more. But a few people were talking about it when I got up again so, when the woman of the moment finally appeared in the corridor with her wheelie suitcase, me and a couple of the others were standing around to watch her go.

It wouldn’t be doing my investigation any favours, of course. It was one less person to talk to, one less witness who’d been on the ward when Kevin was killed, but the Foot Woman had never been high up on my list of suspects. I just couldn’t see her sneaking into Kevin’s room, giving his feet a quick rub then popping a pillow over his face. Like I said, it wouldn’t have taken much, but she was just too . . . wispy. I doubt she’d have been able to strangle a mouse.

When she was at the airlock, shaking hands with the nurses, we all took our shoes off and waggled our feet at her. It was Lucy’s idea. Jamilah smiled and nodded, but I don’t think she got the joke.

‘I give it two weeks,’ Ilias said. ‘Two weeks and she’ll be back.’

I went to the toilet and had a little cry after Jamilah left.

For me though, not for her.

Yeah, it would have been nice to commandeer the empty MDR and use that as a makeshift interview room like Seddon had done, but with nowhere else even remotely suitable, I had to think on my feet a bit. Use whatever opportunities presented themselves. Also, now the staff were starting to get on my case, I didn’t want to make too much of a song and dance about it anyway.