‘You’ll need your ID for that bit too,’ he says, smiling. ‘Bit of a risk, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Can we just talk for a second?’ I push myself between them.

‘And that’s the beauty of medical records, too,’ he says, as if I’m not there. ‘We’ll know if you show up at Essex County instead, since they’ll see everything from Warchester General.’

‘Please?’ I say, standing on tiptoes. ‘We just need to talk for a minute.’

‘Sure you can,’ he says, taking a step back. ‘You’re sisters, aren’t 145you? You can chat together all you like.’ Rach keeps looking at him as I pull her away towards the wall.

‘Not in here,’ she hisses as she finally turns to me, speeding towards the entrance.

‘One of us has to stay,’ I say, putting out a hand to stop the swing door crashing into my face. ‘Rach—’

‘What the fuck is wrong with you, Carls!’ she shouts into the wind as we step into the night air. ‘Do you know how bad this is?’

‘It’ll get a lot worse if you end up in the slammer,’ I say, heart racing so hard I think it might come out of my mouth.

Rach laughs, head pointing up at the moon overhead. I shiver as her lighter flares, purple lipstick almost black in the dark.

‘What do we do?’ I say, tears pricking my eyes. ‘I think Jase’ll kill me if there are any more questions. He said there would be questions just because of where we are. And there were two of them who saw the state of Ma, saw the state of everything…’

She doesn’t answer, exhaling like she’s a dragon.

‘Maybe you should come back in the morning,’ I continue, watching smoke curl and wisp around her head in the moonlight. ‘Then she might be well enough for us to go without any grief, even if they come knocking afterwards. She might…’ I trail off into the hiss of her cigarette. The forecourt is deserted.

‘Please, Rach,’ I say after a minute, reaching out to her. ‘They never said we wouldn’t be able to leave, did they? Just that I’m not old enough to take her myself. It’s bad enough she ended up here in the first place—’

‘And whose fault is that?’ I jump as she interrupts, spitting on the tarmac between us.

‘Ma called them, I swear she did,’ I say. ‘She must have. I would never…’

She laughs again.

‘You didn’t see her,’ I say. ‘I thought she was going to die. She was so hot that she might as well have been on fire inside—’

‘We need her, Carls,’ she cuts me off. ‘We need her. Jason needs 146her, all of us need her. She’s part of it too. Don’t you get it?’ Her cigarette crackles as she drags.