By the time he’d driven all the way down to Ashford and then back to London, he was beat. He went to the supermarket to grab some dinner, tempted himself with a look at the off-licence, but picked up the Evening Standard instead. For once in his life he liked the front- page news. They were laughing. Violette and Bee and Eddie and Charlie and Fionn and Lola and Manoshi. the kids are all right, ran the headline. It had to count for something.

Inside his quiet flat he collected a week’s post, marvelled at the life force of this particular fish, checked his email, was the fourth to join the Free Noor LeBrac group, and sifted through his mail. Bills. Bills. Bills.

Handwritten envelope.

He stared at it, saw it had been opened and then sticky-taped shut, but he didn’t care. And he began to read.

Dear Bashir . . .

He’d have to get himself a stationery set.

Sometimes Violette thinks the loneliness and yearning for opposite sides of the world will break her. She misses Eddie most of all. She was never so sure of who she was as when they were together those three weeks last year. And as long as she lives, Violette will not forget the looks on Henna Nasrene’s and Papi Christophe’s faces when they saw their grandson for the first time.

Still, most days she worries about her brother. Some kids at his school are okay about who he is but others write crap on his locker and she knows it gets to him. It doesn’t stop him visiting Jimmy in Calais, and at least once a month his dad takes him to Holloway. John says it’s what Anna would have wanted, but whatever his reason, Violette knows it means a lot to her mum, who tells her, ‘Some days are worse than others, my love, some days better than most.’

There’s talk that Layla will lodge the appeal soon, and fingers crossed there’ll be a trial. Bee’s mum is their QC and she’s pretty thorough. Doesn’t cut corners. Doesn’t allow mistakes. Her approach is ‘Every i dotted and every t crossed so we can blow it out of the water in the first couple of days.’ A friend of Bee’s dad turned down the prospect of being a federal court judge so he can represent Jimmy and Uncle Joseph. Rachel and Layla say the entire family must be in that courtroom. Team Noor has to be strong and visible and they need to get the media on side.

But Violette knows they’ll need more than the media. The Guardian ran a piece over Christmas asking the families of the Brackenham victims how they’d feel about Noor LeBrac getting an appeal hearing. Most had no comment. Two families believe she’s innocent. Three say they hope she burns in hell. One says that regardless of whether she’s innocent or guilty, someone in the family has to pay.