‘Of course,’ said a consultant, who began to clear everyone away from the tiny area. Suddenly, they were alone. Now Elaine could hear the bleeps from within the room, and she guessed that they meant Donald was fighting for survival. As long as those machines made noises, she figured, then he was clinging on to life. His prognosis wasn’t good, she could tell.

‘Do you want to sit down?’ she whispered to her children. More chairs had been set out for them and they nodded. They sat in a row, like lost strangers waiting for an audition: terrified and ill-prepared. They were grown adults but now, in here, faced with the end of their father’s life, they regressed to small innocents, looking to her for guidance.

Elaine took her phone out of her bag and scrolled through her contacts list. Somewhere, from long ago, she reckoned she just might have Vivienne Kennedy-Craig’s number saved. It was a long shot but it was something to do.

Chapter 16

Kate Umshaw had waited at Eden House for her boss all day.

‘God, Kate, don’t you need to be home?’ Kelly asked. But she was thrilled to see her friend.

Kate was in her forties, and divorce suited her. She had three grown-up daughters, with Millie, Kelly’s nanny, being the youngest. Kelly and Kate had become closer following a prison riot two months ago, during which Kate had been caught inside. She’d come close to being beaten to a pulp by a gang of inmates. The atmosphere of testosterone-fuelled, sex-denied men presented with a woman like Kate had made for an explosive stand-off. They’d wanted to take the woman who’d dropped into their world, and use her to their satisfaction. It was a horrific situation. Kelly had been on the outside with the negotiating team and she knew that if it hadn’t been for several of the inmates and the civilian teacher inside with Kate at the time… well, she dared not think what might have happened. Kelly knew her friend had faced things she’d only shared with her, yet Kate had insisted on coming back to work straight after the riot, despite HR begging her to take time off to decompress.

‘Decompression, my arse,’ Kate had announced abruptly. ‘What I need is to catch more bastards.’

Kelly could hardly have agreed more, knowing full well that if it had been her, she’d have been throwing herself into work too. She’d approved her second in command carrying on her duties. It was soothing, having her by her side.

Kate had been busy all day, coordinating information from the crash site, whipping multiple agencies into shape and dealing with the press office.

‘Prime minister’s office is breathing down the constabulary’s neck,’ Kate said.