Tension had risen at the very officious nature of the meeting and tightened almost unbearably at the mention of someone from the company’s legal team. Jodie had never had much time for the huge conglomerate, BestLife Care, who spoke about residents’ care coming first while refusing to provide the money or facilities to ensure it did. But if they’d sent a legal representative, they were taking this situation very seriously indeed.

‘I’d like to know the details of the allegation against me,’ she said, tapping her pen against the notepad.

The manager opened the file in front of her and took out a sheet of paper. She ran her eyes over it, her eyes widening as if shocked, as if reading it for the first time. It was an affectation – Jodie knew she would have read it several times before this meeting.

Katy held the page up by the corner, her mouth twisting as if disgusted by what was written there. ‘This is Nurse Bessie Abbott’s statement.’ She placed the page on the desk and adjusted the glasses that sat on the edge of her snub nose. ‘On the night of Monday 16th September,’ she read aloud, ‘I, Bessie Abbott, the registered night nurse, did a routine check of all the residents following handover from the day staff nurse, Jodie Armstrong. In room six, I approached the sleeping Daisy Courtland to check she was comfortable, then turned to exit the room. I spotted a medicine pot on her bedside locker. Surprised to find it half full with medication, I removed it and took it to the treatment room. To my horror–’ Katy looked up from the sheet and caught Jodie’s gaze. Without looking down at the page, she continued ‘–I discovered that there were several different pills in the container, ranging from cardiac to diuretic. I followed protocol and rang the manager.’ Katy looked towards the other two women. ‘Following which, I immediately suspended Ms Armstrong.’

The world was buckling under Jodie, she wanted to throw her notepad and pen down and grip the sides of the chair. This couldn’t be happening. There was no reason that several pills would be in a medicine pot in Daisy’s room. None at all.

She felt the stickiness of perspiration in her armpits, the cold sweat of fear on her forehead. ‘I don’t understand.’

The manager withdrew another sheet of paper. ‘We did a medication audit. It was checked and double-checked.’ She slid the report across the desk. ‘That’s a copy of the results.’

Jodie picked it up, but the numbers and words danced on the page.

‘As you can see,’ Katy explained, ‘the medication in stock tallies with medication received and dispersed.’

Worse, far worse than Jodie had expected. She kept her eyes on the page as if she were reading, her mind whirling in a void. She had no explanation. There was none.