‘Me and Curtis were arguing. Then he caught Ruby trying to use my phone to dial that number you wrote on the prescription. He took the phone off her, smashed it with a wrench. The two of them got into a big row about the phone. Ruby took off on her bike after that.’

‘Where would she go?’

‘Ruby’s got her hidey holes for when Curtis gets aggro. She’ll be okay.’

‘And after Ruby left … ?’

‘Oh, he got really wild then. I made a run for the ute with Jye but Curtis got there first. Drove it straight at me.’

‘And he pinned you against the tank?’

Nicole nodded, then her face contorted into tears. ‘At least he didn’t hurt Jye.’

She let her head flop away sideways, drowsy from the pain medication or simply not wanting to talk anymore.

When they heard the thoomp-thoomp of the helicopter blades outside, Nicole panicked, terrified about going in a helicopter. Paula held her hand, reassuring her, as they wheeled her out to the landing area on the grass behind the hospital building.

Paula did the handover to the helicopter paramedics. Swamped by the noise of the rotors, she mouthed, ‘You’ll be okay,’ to Nicole.

The chopper lifted off the grass pad and swooped away towards the Sydney hospital that would stitch Nicole Wigney together.

Walking back inside the hospital building, Paula could see Carol was now down at the reception area talking to a man and woman in their sixties—Nicole’s parents. Jye was leaning into his grandmother’s hip, as she rubbed her hand along his neck and shoulders with a regular soothing rhythm. The boy obviously loved his nana, felt safe with her.

Carol was filling the parents in on Nicole’s condition, using calm gestures and the occasional reassuring touch on the arm. As the doctor, Paula should also discuss things with the family members, so she quickly turned to the sink in the treatment area and splashed her face with water, hoping to settle herself enough to speak coherently to Nicole’s parents. But by the time she straightened up and shook the water out of her eyes, Jye and his grandparents had gone.

‘Well, that’s something at least,’ said Carol, as she headed back towards Paula. ‘The grandparents are nice. At least the kid’s got that going for him. Poor little bugger. Imagine seeing your dad ram a car into your mum and leave her there on the ground, smashed up. Far out.’

As Paula helped Carol tidy up the treatment area, her hands were shaking. Clumsy, she kept dropping gear on the floor, and when she stooped to pick things up, she stumbled, feeling faint. Carol looked at her, smiling but frowning at the same time—Are you okay?

Paula was already strung so taut that when the main door opened with a loud thwack, she jerked around anxiously.