Jodie had already decided against telling Rivka about her visit to Victor’s. It had been a crazy thing to do, she wanted to forget about it and certainly didn’t want to listen to Rivka’s justifiable criticism. It was unusual for her friend to be so odd but if she wanted to talk about the NMC investigation, Jodie would humour her. ‘There’s not much to tell. I’ve had letters and forms to fill out but that’s it. I was warned that it would take a long time. My union rep seems happy enough, he says it gives me time to get good character references from my new employer.’

‘But it will eventually be dismissed?’

Rivka’s hands were clasped on the table, tension in every line of her body. Unusually, too, for the normally well-turned-out woman, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her hair looked as though it hadn’t been washed in a couple of days. Everything screamed something was wrong. Jodie stretched a hand across the table. ‘Hey, what’s the matter?’

Rivka looked at the hand, but instead of reaching for it, she shoved her hands into her coat pockets and repeated her question. ‘It will eventually be dismissed?’

Jodie left her hand where it was as she answered. ‘I’ve no idea. I’ve never put a foot wrong before so that’s in my favour. The home can’t prove it was me who left the medication in the room but the NMC may come to the same conclusion that the home did and lay the blame squarely on my shoulders.’

‘Then you could still be struck off?’

‘Yes, I suppose I could.’ Jodie shrugged. ‘I’m hoping not, obviously.’ She tapped the table gently with her extended hand. ‘Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?’

Rivka lifted her chin and looked at her with tear-filled eyes.

In all the years Jodie had known her, she’d never seen her look so utterly sad. ‘Rivka, what the hell is going on?’

‘If you had a letter from the person who put the tablets in that resident’s bedroom, would that exonerate you completely?’

So many things had bowled Jodie over in the last few weeks, she should be used to the sensation of falling into a deep pit. But this was Rivka. Her rock in an increasingly unstable world. Unable to formulate a rational question Jodie fell back on, ‘I don’t understand.’

Rivka pulled her hands from her pockets. One held a rather battered, creased envelope. ‘Here.’

Another damn white envelope. Jodie had had her fill of them. She shook her head, knowing by her friend’s grim expression that the contents were going to shake her. But she wasn’t being given a choice. Rivka pushed the envelope into Jodie’s hand and sat back, her chin on her chest.