‘You go,’ Ron said. ‘The coppers are just arriving and we’ll deal with this lot.’

‘Thanks.’ Jenny began to run home, anxious to let Ma see she was all right.

Ma held out her hand as soon as she entered the bedroom. ‘Tell me,’ she croaked.

She knelt by the bed and cradled Ma’s hand in her own, explaining what had happened. By the time she’d told her about Matthew being stabbed, the tears were flowing down Ma’s cheeks. ‘You go see. Now!’

Ivy came up the stairs at that moment. ‘I’ll stay with Ma, Jen. Go to the hospital.’

Without a moment’s hesitation Jenny was off and running for the bus stop. She was lucky as one was just arriving. It would have been agony if she’d had to wait.

Arriving at St Thomas’s, she rushed to Accident and Emergency, guessing that was where they would have taken him first. The sight that met her brought her flying feet to a sudden halt, and she whimpered in panic. Mr and Mrs Stannard, Luke and John were all there, grim-faced with anxiety. The three men were standing, shoulders drooping. Mrs Stannard was sitting, head bowed, obviously trying to hold back the tears.

Jenny forced herself to move and fell to her knees in front of Mrs Stannard, quite expecting to be told to get out of their sight. But she had to know. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she gasped. ‘How is he?’

‘He’s lost a lot of blood and they’re working on him now.’ John made her stand up and then sat her beside his mother.

She brought Mrs Stannard’s cold hand to her cheek and held it there, desperate to give some kind of comfort if she could. ‘You must regret the day I came into your life. I’m so sorry, so sorry.’ How inadequate that sounded, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. If they lost their fine son because of her, they would never forgive her.

‘None of this is your fault,’ Mr Stannard said gruffly. John and his father appeared to be the only ones capable of speech. Luke and his mother were lost in silent misery.

‘Will you tell us what happened?’ John stood in front of her, but spoke gently and didn’t appear to be angry with her.

Jenny explained as much as she could remember, but she faltered when she got to the part she still viewed with horror. ‘When Matthew tried to rescue me, I told him to run. I did! Those men were really nasty. I saw one of them pull a knife out of his pocket and I was frantic. I fought as hard as I could, but …’ She shook her head in despair. ‘He shouldn’t have risked his life for me. I yelled at him to run. He should have run!’