‘Lancaster is sending help and there’s a naval vessel sending a Sea King from the Solway Firth. There’s two surgeons on board.’ Johnny had been listening intently to her radio.

She jumped into the passenger seat and Johnny started the car. Kelly flicked on the blues and sirens and Johnny manoeuvred his way out of the city centre. Journos stood agape at the spectacle. Two major witnesses in the Ian Burton case, on opposing sides, fleeing the scene using police sirens; it would make a great story. They just so happened to have a child together, too.

With Johnny driving as though he was escaping rebels in Basra, they were on the M6 in under ten minutes. Kelly was fully changed and checked her kit.

‘Route?’ she asked.

‘Put my phone on speaker,’ he told her.

‘Officially, I need to take over the driving,’ she said, doing as he asked. She pressed the recall button for the Keswick mountain rescue.

‘Johnny, we’ve got eleven on their way so far, we’re sending shuttles up there by helicopter and three teams have gone the long way road and will approach from Wasdale Head.’

The Wasdale mountain rescue team was one of the most critical in the national park. It served the mountains around England’s highest peaks, and dealt with some of the most serious accidents. Usually people thought they could bag three or four of the summits by hopping from one to another, not realising that it was impossible on some routes without ropes. ‘But they looked such little mountains!’, they were often told. Unpredictable weather always scuppered the best plans. Johnny knew the Wasdale team well, and they were all fit and prepared to face what was unfolding. It would take them perhaps an hour to get to the Lingmell Col. Johnny had done it in forty-two minutes. Kelly in under an hour. But today wasn’t the time for records. They already knew that there were fatalities up there.

‘There was a fucking fell race on. It came down on competitors,’ Kelly said.

Johnny shook his head. ‘I’ll pull in here, you take over the driving,’ he said. They were halfway between Carlisle and Keswick, and had another twenty minutes to drive.

‘I’ve still got a kit bag for you, it’s on the back seat,’ she said. She’d got it out of the boot when she got hers. She’d never got round to returning it to him. He looked at her as he indicated to pull over to the hard shoulder.