Joanne Padley, twenty-one, and her boyfriend Jon Adams, twenty-three, were killed when struck by a car that failed to stop while they hiked the Capital Ring in Greenford on the 5th of September.

The hikers had been partway through a week-long trek of the Capital Ring, a series of walking trails surrounding central London. That night, walk number nine, Greenford to South Kenton, but in reverse. They drank at the Ballot Box, an old pub on Horsenden Lane North, and walked south along the lane, somewhat parallel to the Capital Ring, planning to regain the trail at the canal bridge.

But about four hundred metres from the pub they were hit by a car that failed to stop. CCTV in the local area has so far proved unable to help, but forensic scientists have analysed paint flecks found on the bodies and the police have released information that they wish to trace lido blue Fiat Puntos registered between September 2004 (54 plate) and March 2006 (06 plate).

Anyone with information should call either…

‘You think Anna was driving? Preposterous?’ Middleton said.

‘Can’t be,’ Jane wheezed.

Thankfully, Middleton hadn’t brought the police to the meeting at Sir Jack’s restaurant. During the wait, Nick had thought hard about how best to tell his tale, and in the end he decided to get the worst of it out early. He’d rushed to the car and jumped in the back before it had fully stopped, and immediately unloaded:

‘The police think Anna was involved in a hit-and-run killing.’

Jane had uttered her shock, her puzzlement, and her absolute disbelief. Middleton, though, had said nothing until he was parked up. And then he’d told Nick that he’d had two calls from Detective Bennet, which he’d ignored until after he spoke to Nick. He’d got Jane calmed down then ordered Nick to explain. Nick had snatched up Middleton’s mobile from the centre console, already planning to use the Internet to prove his case.

Middleton had read the newspaper article aloud for Jane. Twice. Then came a period of silence as Anna’s family sought reasons to disbelieve the old news story. Jane had been first to submit to acceptance. She had started to cry. This seemed to tip the scales for Middleton, whose head had slumped forward.

Now, he said, ‘The carjacking story was a lie?’

Nick took the mobile out of Middleton’s limp hand and said, ‘I think it was to explain how shaky she was that night. How scared. She came home, utterly distraught. I couldn’t really get much out of her at first. Just the basics. Some guys cut in front of her and tried to steal her car. She kept saying she didn’t want to talk about it. She made me promise not to bring it up again. Even today we don’t mention it.’