“First off,” he says, “I’d like to reassure you that we’re doing everything we can to find the person responsible for the hit and run. We’re following up on all the details you and your boss gave us at the hospital this morning, and we’ve put a board up at the scene of the accident, asking for eye-witnesses, but no one has come forward yet. We’ve also examined the CCTV footage from Green Fields, but the camera range doesn’t cover the road so we were unable to get a shot of the car as it passed. I’m afraid we’ve got very little to go on at present.”

I take a sip of my water. “I understand.”

“As for the notes and messages you’ve received” – he glances at his notepad – “we do take stalking very seriously these days, and someone is obviously trying to unsettle and unnerve you, and keeping their identity secret is part of the intimidation. There haven’t been any obvious threats of violence, but” – he circles something on his pad with his pen – “the most recently received text message does sound as though it could have been sent by the person who knocked you off your bike, and that’s something we need to take seriously as, if the two are connected, that could mean an intent to harm, or even attempted murder. I’m going to talk to my sergeant about your case and whether we should pass it on to CID, and then …”

I don’t hear the rest of his sentence because two words are repeating over and over in my head. Attempted murder. I’ve spent the last twelve hours trying to convince myself that what happened was an accident, that it was a drunken stag party driving too quickly through unfamiliar roads in the dark.

“Jane?” PC Barnham waves his hand across my line of vision. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, sorry. What were you saying?”

“That we won’t offer police protection at this stage, but I would like you to think about all the people who might hold a grudge against you or want to harm you in some way. If you could let me have that list as soon as possible … I’d also like you to continue to log and save every text, online message and written note, and keep a diary of any unusual activity. You might want to consider carrying a personal safety device and installing a security alarm in your home. If it makes you feel safer, you might also want to consider asking your boyfriend to move in with you until that’s done. William Smart, did you say his name is? Or maybe you could stay with him?”