I hear the sounds of a police helicopter and numerous police car sirens in the near distance. I can see by Tommy’s glance into the sky that this has registered with him as well.

‘Thank you, Gary, that’s made my mind up nicely,’ he says as he slowly adjusts the angle of the gun and points it directly at Emily. Emily’s eyes are now wide open and trying to come to terms with the events unfolding around her.

I see Tommy’s expression change and any indecision within him disappear. He tightens his grip on the trigger. I take a step and drop myself on top of Emily to shield her from any bullet. As I land on her, I hear the roar of the gun being fired twice and then silence as my brain tries to establish whether I have indeed been shot. I can’t register any pain and raise myself off Emily to see if she has been hit. I glance towards Tommy to check if he is about to shoot again and see that he is lying flat on his back on the lawn. A big chunk of his face is missing from around his left eye and his eyeball itself is hanging from its socket. He has shot himself.

I turn again to Emily as she lets out muffled yelps of pain. She is lying flat holding her right hip. I gently move her hand to one side but can see no obvious sign of a wound. I take hold of her tan bag and pull it away from her hip. There is blood on the side that was next to her hip and a hole where the bullet has entered through the other side. There is a book inside the bag and I can see that the bullet has passed through the book and into Emily’s hip. There is very little blood, but there is no doubt that Emily has been shot.

‘Lie flat on your face with your hands behind your back!’

It’s an armed police officer with his gun pointing directly at me.

‘Both of you! Lie flat on your face with your hands behind your back!’

I let go of Emily and do as I am told.

‘She’s been shot, shot in the hip. He shot her then he shot himself. You’ve got to help her,’ I shout as I feel the cold hard metal of handcuffs being placed around my wrists. I’m pulled up to my feet by my arms and find myself facing DS Marks, who has just entered the garden still wearing his boiler suit.

‘What the fuck are you doing here,’ he barks. ‘I told you to stay in your flat.’

I start to cry, just from the sheer madness of the whole thing. I can hear Emily sobbing between her grumbles of pain.

‘Thank you,’ I say to him. ‘Thank you so much.’