Olivia remembered their awful panic. Who should they call? They had to use the phone in the restaurant, the owner glaring at them, the patrons whispering and staring. They decided not to ring their parents. They rang the school instead. Olivia made the call. She hoped for kind Sister Frances. She got fierce Sister Roberta. She started crying on the phone. Sister Roberta snapped at her. ‘Speak clearly. Is anyone injured? Thank God. Stay where you are.’

Forty minutes later a woman in her fifties came to the restaurant. ‘Sister Roberta sent me.’

‘Are you a nun too?’ Maxie dared to ask.

‘I’m Roberta’s sister. I’m a lawyer.’

She drove them to the police station. She told them to stay in the car. She was in the station for nearly an hour. Outside, they had no idea what was going on.

It was now as if Eliza wasn’t there. Olivia and Maxie were telling each other the story again.

The lawyer finally came back out. With Jeannie. She was lucky. All she had was a small cut on her cheek. They were driven back to school to an icy welcome. Sent to their dorm. No talking allowed.

The following days were tense and terrible. They were separated, moved into different dormitories. Their parents were notified. They were given warnings. Grounded. Jeannie’s parents arrived the next morning. There was a long meeting with the principal.

‘We never found out exactly what happened. We think her parents paid the restaurant off. Paid for the repairs to the van. Paid compensation. Paid the sisters.’

Jeannie did let them know about the telling-off she’d received from her parents. It lasted for hours, she said.

That was the last time Olivia and Maxie ever spoke to Jeannie on the school grounds.

‘What about at your graduation? You didn’t talk to Jeannie that day?’ Eliza asked.

Olivia and Maxie exchanged glances. Eliza noticed. ‘What?’

Silence.

‘What? What aren’t you telling me now?’

‘Your mum didn’t finish school, Eliza. She dropped out. About a month after the crash.’

‘She’d gone home to see her parents.’

‘Summoned home, we think.’

‘And on the Monday afterwards, she didn’t come back.’

‘We tried ringing, left messages, but they were never returned. Jeannie didn’t reply to our letters.’

‘The nuns said there were family issues.’

‘That’s why Mum didn’t go to university?’ Eliza said. ‘Because she hadn’t finished high school?’

‘It’s part of it.’

‘Part of it? What’s the rest of it?’ Her voice was quiet.

‘Eliza —’

‘Tell me everything. Please.’

‘She ran away from home. And we don’t know for sure, but we think she must have taken either jewellery or money from her parents. Because she suddenly had a lot of money.’