‘He was an animal,’ Heidi spits. ‘And don’t dare bring my mother into this. There’s no comparison. She didn’t deserve her pain. Joe deserved every bit of his. Every last twinge.’

I sit beside Heidi. Rest my hand on hers to try to keep her calm so that Kathleen can say her piece. I need to understand why she did this.

‘No one deserves that pain,’ Kathleen bites. ‘I was trying to be compassionate. That was my intention. I didn’t think all this would happen.’ She gestures around the room. ‘I didn’t expect that the police would become involved. I thought – well, I thought I’d dealt with that side of things.’

‘What do you mean?’ I ask her. How on earth had she ‘dealt with things’?

She takes a deep breath. ‘Dr Sweeney,’ she says.

I feel my breath catch in my throat. Dr Sweeney? Kind, old Dr Sweeney with the soft expression and the soothing voice? He had something to do with this? My head starts to spin. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, trying to steady myself, but I can hear Kathleen still talking.

‘You mustn’t think badly of him. He was trying to do the right thing. He’s a good man.’ There’s a hint of warmth, of emotion in her voice again. She wipes away another tear. ‘I’d spoken to him about how I didn’t want Joe to suffer, you know. I thought if I just … you know … helped him on his way. It wouldn’t be painless, but it wouldn’t be as bad as what was ahead of him.

‘Of course he told me that such things aren’t legal and that he couldn’t condone it or advise me on it. In fact, he urged me to be sensible. Told me palliative care had come on leaps and bounds since my father died, even since your mother died, Heidi.

‘I didn’t plan it, you know. But that night, Joe was in so much pain. He was scared. I suppose I got scared, too. Before I even knew it, I’d done it.’ She glances at her hands as if she can’t quite believe what they were capable of.

‘When I called Dr Sweeney that night he knew as soon as he saw Joe that something had happened; that I’d done something. He asked me, when you were all out of the room. He asked me to tell him what I’d done, so I did. But he understood what you can’t seem to. That I was doing Joe a favour. That I was saving him from pain in the long run. That my intentions were good. I pleaded with Dr Sweeney not to say anything and, well, we were friends a long time ago and he agreed. He was only trying to help …’

‘Well, we have to tell the police this,’ I say softly. ‘You know that, don’t you, Kathleen?’

She looks at me and blinks as if the thought hasn’t even occurred to her. ‘I don’t think we do,’ she says.