When she reached the junction for the M42 she went right over, continuing south on the A435 towards Evesham. She knew the area south of Birmingham relatively well. There were many picturesque towns there that she’d been to over the years. She remembered relaxing Sunday morning strolls with her parents and her brother when she’d been a child, the odd weekend escape to a luxury hotel with Jason.

No, thinking about those times wasn’t going to make her much happier right now.

But wasn’t it a little ironic it was in that area, much loved by her family all those years ago, that Ben, her twin, would likely spend the rest of his life?

Dani might have known the area generally, but she’d never before been to her destination; HM Prison Long Lartin – a category A prison in a somewhat unusual village setting, where all manner of violent or otherwise highly dangerous prisoners were incarcerated; rapists, murderers, drug dealers, terrorists. Her brother.

When she reached the security gate at the perimeter of the prison complex, Dani explained who she was and was let through into the small visitor’s parking area. The prison from here looked like nothing more than a 1970s low-rise office, with blocky features and slabs of concrete interspersed with red brick and blue painted panels.

Dani made her way to the visitor’s entrance, pushed open the left of the double doors and moved into line behind two others who were queuing in front of the glass-fronted reception desk. She noticed there were already more than a dozen people crammed into the waiting area, eagerly awaiting the chance to spend some not-such-quality time with their not-so-good loved ones. There were children among the visitors too. They were the ones Dani felt sorry for. But then she wondered again about Harry and Chloe. Did they deserve the chance to come here to see their dad?

When it was her turn Dani walked up to the reception desk and smiled at the uniformed prison officer who was sitting on the other side. He had a grey-stubbled face and droopy eyes that gave him an overall unkempt and tired appearance. Perhaps that was the toll his job had taken on him.

‘Morning,’ Dani said.

‘Morning,’ the officer said in return, though the greeting was somewhat forced and his tone was coarse, his face serious.

Dani explained who she was and the officer, whose name tag gave his surname as Abbott, began a long search on his computer.

‘Yes, that’s fine, Miss Stephens,’ Abbott said when he’d finished. ‘When the masses get called through you’ll need to wait here. The Deputy Governor will collect you separately.’

‘Oh, right, yeah ok,’ Dani said. Abbott turned to the next visitor in line behind Dani, and she realised she’d get no more explanation from him as to what he meant.