They approached roadworks and Bennet started to slow. Like everyone else, he increased speed almost immediately because there was no workforce and no sign warning of a reduced speed limit, so the average speed cameras would be turned off. The change in pace, in rhythm, pulled Anna out of a trance. It also stirred Miller, whose head was resting on the window.

‘Don’t let me sleep,’ she told Bennet. She turned in her seat, saw that Anna was alert, and handed her an electronic tablet. The long night had taken more of a toll on Nick, who was asleep against Anna’s shoulder.

Miller said, ‘The first picture is of—’

‘Dominic Watson-Bruce. Iliana Eastman’s nephew. The bastard who kidnapped me.’ She wanted to spit on his picture. ‘I met him once. Way back when he was only about eleven. A kid on a bike. When I went to the scrapyard to do that evil thing.’

‘Don’t talk about that yet, dear,’ Miller warned. ‘You’ve said enough so far. Not here. Please.’

Anna ignored her. ‘He nearly crashed his bike into me. I remember hoping my own child could grow up to be as polite and handsome.’

‘Don’t think about that, Anna. Please.’

‘It was a mistake. If I hadn’t stopped him crashing, maybe he would have paralysed himself or died. And none of this would have happened to Josie.’ She rubbed her face.

Asleep still, Nick grumbled and tried to take back his hand. Only then did she realise she’d grabbed hold of it at some point and was squeezing tightly, nails dug in. She let go of his fingers. She tried to set her mind straight.

‘Okay. I’m sorry. Continue. You were saying how lucky Iliana Eastman is to have a criminal in the family.’

‘Apologies,’ Miller said. ‘It’s worse than that.’

Watson-Bruce Salvage was a very family-run business – every single one of the nine registered employees there was someone’s son or cousin or brother or girlfriend or boyfriend of. The Watson-Bruces were notorious in Northampton because just about every one of them going back fifty years had a criminal record. Except Iliana. Perhaps that was why Iliana, who had bigger plans for herself, decided to flee the nest and settle in London, where she broadcast her skills and personality in the power halls of Westminster and kept her history wrapped in shadows.

‘Marc never mentioned his wife’s family to me,’ Anna said. ‘I don’t think I ever heard the name Watson-Bruce. Not until after… that night. It was only when DS Bennet mentioned that Dominic was from Northampton that I realised these people were involved. And I knew then I was going to go to prison.’