She was perched on one arm of the chair she was sharing with Roy. Julia had the other chair while I sat at my desk, with my back to it and the world beyond. I wondered if Julia might find Bella’s contribution intrusive, but she seemed not to. “I feel as if they won’t catch up until I understand what happened,” I said.

“What do you think did?” Bella said.

“Supposedly they came off the motorway too fast, straight in front of a lorry.” I pictured the juggernaut bearing down on them, and did my best not to imagine further. “My father must have been distracted,” I said. “I never knew him to be less than absolutely careful.”

“You won’t know what distracted him,” Bella said.

“I think I may have heard it happen.”

She sat forward, gripping her knees. “What do you think you heard?”

“I think he was looking at my mother when he should have been concentrating on the road. There was something she wanted to tell me or show me. Maybe he saw it and that was the distraction. I heard how it surprised him, and then they were cut off.”

“Cut off by a truck,” Roy muttered.

“There’s no need for that,” Julia said.

“Only the phone wasn’t quite.” Establishing this let me feel a little more informed. “The window must have been open, and it ended up by the road. Someone rescued it before it locked itself and gave it to the police.”

“That’s how they found you,” Bella said, “with the phone.”

“When they did I thought they were a scam.” I was hoping my audience would find this comical, but perhaps nobody wanted to take the risk. “I did hear one odd thing,” I said.

The arm of Roy’s chair gave a faint squeak. “What was that?” Bella said, though not about the sound.

“Someone was telling somebody there’d been three people in the car. Of course there were just my parents. The police who came to see me didn’t even know who’d said otherwise. They couldn’t have thought it was worth putting on the record.”

“I shouldn’t think you do either,” Julia said.

“It’s weird like dad says, though.”

“I think the situation’s bad enough without bringing mysteries into it.” As if she’d realised the comment could home in on me, Julia said “Sorry, Patrick, did you have more to say?”

“Nothing comes to mind just now.”

“Then dinner’s ready when everyone is. You can thank Bella as much as me.”

I wasn’t sure how hungry I might feel, especially when I saw the offerings laid out on the kitchen table – bowls of salad composed of leaves or nuts or pulses. “When did you turn vegetarian, Julia?”

“It’s all vegan, and that’s Bella. You’ve cold meat in the fridge if you feel the need.”