Scholz rubbed his hands together nervously. He looked just a little uncomfortable with Dani venting. It was quite unlike her to be so open in her therapy sessions, but today she just needed to get it all off her chest and had been talking pretty much non-stop for the best part of the hour session.

‘What I mean is—’

‘Sorry, but how exactly is any of this good?’ Dani asked again.

Now Scholz sat back in his seat and smiled.

‘Dani, your emotional responses… they’re… well, what do you think?’

Dani thought about that one for a moment. She thought about everything that had happened in the last few days. The murders. Harland. Jason coming back into her life – kind of. The trips to see Ben. Spending time with her nephew and niece.

She huffed.

‘You’re undoubtedly going through a very difficult time right now,’ Scholz said, ‘but to me, what I see is that you resuming the role of the old Dani – detective, aunt, sister – has actually brought a lot of the old you back. Angry outbursts aside, perhaps. I must say in all of our sessions together I’ve never seen such an array of emotional responses from you.’

Dani huffed again. ‘Anger. Fear. Bitterness. Resentment. Great. I’m really chuffed at how things are turning out for me.’

‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. Sadness, which I’m sensing a great deal of, is a very important emotion too. And I also sensed pride, even joy, when you were talking about Harry and Chloe earlier.’

‘So what are you saying? I should feel like I’m in a good place now? The way I see it, my drugged-up isolation was a walk in the park compared to the last few days.’

‘I’m saying you’re still recovering from a very serious brain injury, and a very traumatic period in your life, but you’re making improvements in some critical aspects of your mental wellbeing all the time.’

‘Only some aspects?’

Scholz sighed and looked more serious again. ‘Well I can still sense that your morale and motivation are extremely low. Bordering on worryingly so. I’d certainly recommend not reducing your anti-depressant medication any further just yet. But, like you said, you’re having a very hard time at work. You have to make sure you’re making the most of the positives in your life right now. Friends. The children. Even… Jason.’

Dani tried her best to show no reaction to that one. She checked her watch and was glad to see there were only two minutes left. They both sat in silence for a few moments. Scholz continued to stare at her, studying her. The silence quickly grew uncomfortable. Dani checked her watch again.

‘I’ve got to go,’ she said.

She got up from the chair. Scholz stayed in his seat on the other side of the desk.

‘Good luck,’ he said. ‘I really mean that.’