‘That was why she didn’t want me to remember your affair. It was why she came over here in a storm when she heard I’d had another blow to the head; it was why she didn’t leave my side. She was terrified I might start to remember things. She was terrified I might remember why she was the last thing I saw before the car hit.’ Emil’s eyes narrowed as he slowed his words right down. ‘Ask me why she was the last thing I saw before the car hit.’

‘Emil –’ Hanna cried, jumping up from the seat. Her voice was thin and high, as though reeded.

Oh God! Bell gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as Max stayed rebelliously silent.

Emil’s voice was quiet, when it came. ‘It was because she was driving the car, Max.’

‘No!’ The word was a scream, Hanna crumpling against the table, a denial and an admission all at once.

Bell heard a sound behind her again, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t react. This couldn’t be true. But she knew it was as she saw the contempt in Emil’s face as he looked at the woman he loved . . . She had hit him? Because she wanted to be with Max?

Max stared at Hanna in disbelief, his face visibly draining of blood. ‘. . . Hanna?’

No one could speak. Not even Nina, her mouth hanging open slackly. None of them could process it all. It was too much – Hanna and Max’s affair; Hanna, desperate to leave her marriage . . . responsible for putting Emil in the coma?

‘Hanna, you’ve got to talk!’ Max said urgently, running around the table and pulling her up by her arm, but she was limp, her head shaking, legs buckling as she wept and sobbed. ‘Is this true? You were in the car?’

‘Yes!’

The wind gusted again, whipping her hair upwards like a flickering flame.

‘You hit him?’ Max whispered, looking ashen.

‘No!’ She looked back up at him with wild eyes.

He frowned, looking bewildered. Overwhelmed. ‘But you just said –’

‘I know! And I was in the car! I was driving! Because I was chasing after him!’

Bell frowned. It was all nuance. Semantics. She was in the car. The car was the last thing he saw –

Hanna gathered strength suddenly, or rage, her body stiffening and straightening her up as the truth aired for the first time, stretching out, taking up space. She glowered at Emil with a look of pure hatred Bell had never seen before. ‘. . . If you’ve remembered what happened that day, then you’ll also recall what you said to me before you got on your bike and left the house. Won’t you?’ she demanded, as Emil stared back at her.

He didn’t stir.

‘You had threatened to take away my child! You said you were going to drag me through the courts and destroy me! That you’d make sure he grew up hating me!’