Steph touched the gauze dressing on her head. She had a gash but other than that, no real damage. Thankfully.

And then another memory punched its way through to the fore of her mind. The waxed cotton jacket she’d seen through Wendy’s letterbox.

‘Who was at your house yesterday when I came over? There was someone in your kitchen.’ She halted, hardly daring to utter the name on the tip of her tongue. ‘Was it … was it Harry?’

Wendy shied away, giving Steph an old-fashioned look of disbelief. ‘You think Harry was at my house?’

‘I don’t know … whoever it was, they were wearing a waxed cotton jacket. I saw it.’

Wendy’s face relaxed. ‘I think all the Sinclair family own waxed cotton jackets.’

‘It was Pru, wasn’t it?’ asked Steph, suddenly remembering the smell in her mother’s kitchen the day before; it was the perfume that Pru always wore. She scolded herself for not realising this sooner.

‘It was Pru,’ confirmed Wendy. ‘She came to threaten me. She said you weren’t listening to any of the warnings.’

‘Which is why you phoned me.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Wendy. ‘I’m sorry I was never the mother I should have been. It has been my biggest regret, but I didn’t know how else to deal with it. I thought if I could make you hate coming to visit me, then you would stay out of all this. I thought it was the best thing to do but, when your life was in actual danger, I realised it was wrong. It wasn’t your poking around into Elizabeth’s death that led to you nearly coming to the same end, it was me. I am responsible for everything. I should have left your father as soon as I found out what he was doing. I should have left him and taken you with me and that would have broken the cycle, but I stayed and I allowed myself to be used.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Wendy whispered again.

Kendalton General Hospital, Campbell Ward,
Friday, 17 May, 6.00 p.m.

Steph had convinced Wendy to go home and get some rest. The police hadn’t been back since taking their preliminary statements earlier.

‘I expect I’ll get a visit from someone higher up sooner or later,’ Wendy had said before leaving.