Sharp heel taps on the pub’s timbered floor made Tara turn in her seat, but it was only a young city worker who swept past their table to greet a friend. The place was busier than Tara expected for a midweek afternoon, but this was no quiet village. She was looking out onto Derby Square in Liverpool city centre with the Victoria Monument as its centrepiece. Close by but out of sight, was the monolithic concrete building that housed Liverpool Crown Courts.

‘What time did she say she’d be here?’ asked April.

‘We’ve got ages yet. Did you want to order something to eat?’

‘I’ll just wait for my drink for now,’ April replied, playing with the corners of the beer mat in front of her. ‘Did she say what this is about?’

‘I imagine she wants help processing everything that came out in the trial.’

When the waiter arrived with their drinks, April took a gulp of wine before placing it on the now-tattered beer mat while Tara sipped her lime and soda. She was glad it was over and thankful her stint in the witness box had been relatively painless considering she had appeared as a witness for the prosecution in a murder trial. The CPS had upgraded the manslaughter charge and rearrested Faith that last night at her house.

Fortunately for Tara, the majority of her evidence was undisputed. She had described the events leading up to Valentine’s Day, and when it came to the small matter of Faith’s frame of mind, what could she say? She hadn’t seen Faith immediately before or after Nick’s death and her testimony was mostly background noise. April, however, had been drawn into the battle between the defence and prosecution counsels.

‘I made a complete mess of it, Tara.’

‘You were as honest as you could be.’

‘But I went in there thinking I was clear about what happened. The prosecution’s theory that Faith had cried out to make it sound like she was under attack matched what I heard. And yes, I did think Faith capable of cutting her own neck. It wasn’t exactly deep and there was more of Nick’s blood on her than her own,’ she said. She swallowed more wine. ‘But the defence team really pushed this idea that Faith was a broken-hearted widow.’