Kev had dragged her through her darkest, lowest days, and all this time he’d bottled up his own grief, trying to be strong for her, for everyone, and the seed of this one toxic notion had steadily grown inside of him. He had weaponized that last angry moment to use against himself, until that single wretched memory had overwhelmed all the good ones. It had isolated him from the people who loved him the most, and she felt a lump in her throat at his pain.

‘Our little boy is never coming back,’ she said, taking a moment to compose herself. ‘I wish more than anything that he was, but he’s not going to. And I couldn’t bear to lose you, too. We miss you, Kev, all of us, Angel and Denny and me – we need you. We want you to come back to us and be happy and strong. None of us could care less about your silly job, or about bloody Nelson, we just want you back.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He pushed the heel of a hand into one eye to try to stop the tears. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘We’re going to get you help,’ she told him, and when she finally managed to find his hand, he clung to her fingers. ‘Somebody you can talk to about your feelings, to help you get back on your feet. But I hope you feel you can talk to me, too, and you’ll let me help you. First thing we’re going to do is ring the doctor and—’

Her phone rang and her first instinct was to reach for it, but she froze.

‘Get the phone,’ he told her, trying to compose himself. ‘It may be important.’

‘This is important, Kev. You’re the most important thing to me.’

‘I’m not going anywhere. I promise.’

She smeared her wet cheeks with the back of her hand and rooted in her bag, not really wanting to answer it, and pressed the screen.

‘I have your daughter.’

She thought she’d misheard. ‘Excuse me?’

‘I’ve got Angel,’ said a man’s voice, and a terrible dread washed through Sasha.

‘Wait a moment.’ She felt faint. ‘Give me a second.’

She placed the phone to her shoulder – Kev was looking out at the sea – and slid out of the chair. ‘Sorry,’ she told him, trying to smile. ‘It’s a work thing.’

Outside, she stood on the hot pavement beneath the relentless sun. ‘Who are you?’

‘Just worry about this – I have your daughter.’ A jolt of shock made her shudder. ‘And if you tell any of your cop friends, I’ll kill her, along with those other two, the Sammi girl, the Lucas boy.’

A siren roared past on the road. She eventually managed to speak. ‘What do you want?’