‘I have to go to the police.’ A single tear rolled down Jess’s cheek. Mia lifted the hand that still gripped her sister’s and wiped the tear away, her heart thumping.

‘No, you don’t.’ A voice behind them made both sisters turn. ‘None of us do.’ It was Janie. ‘You can’t,’ she hesitated. ‘You tell them what you’ve done and you’ll be locked up for certain, and you don’t deserve that. Not one bit, and yet there’ll be nothing you can do about it.’

For a moment everyone stared silently at Janie.

‘I, for one, haven’t seen you here tonight,’ she went on.

Mia blinked, and Janie turned to Laura, who took a breath before eventually adding, ‘Nor me.’

Mia held a hand over her mouth as she looked from one to the other and then back at her sister. Her thoughts whirled, but there was something she was becoming sure about. She was not going to let anything happen to her sister. And if these two women were prepared to help, then maybe they stood a small chance of getting away with it.

But if they didn’t, if something happened to make one of them break – which she knew was the more likely scenario – then Mia herself would take the blame. Because if it wasn’t for her, this would never have happened.

‘There was someone in there,’ Jess said. ‘I saw them being pulled out.’

Janie suddenly turned to the building, fishing in her back pocket for her mobile. ‘Shit!’ she murmured, tapping her phone, pressing it to her ear. ‘Was it Harry? Was it my husband?’

Mia couldn’t deny that her own concerns weren’t what might have happened to Harry, but that she might not be able to rely on Janie to keep quiet, if Harry Wood was dead.

‘It might not be him,’ Laura was calling after Janie, as she began running off. And all Mia could do was pray it wasn’t; pray that Harry wasn’t dead, because Janie and Laura were the only chance she and Jess had.

Chapter Forty-One

Three months after the fire

Laura hung up her mobile and placed it on her bedside table. Beside her, Bobby lay flat on his back, arms splayed on either side of his head. The curtains were drawn and the window open, but still the summer sun flooded the bedroom with warmth and light. It had taken him a while to drift off for his afternoon nap, but Laura hadn’t minded. She had waited until he fell asleep before she called Patrick back, knowing that even if she didn’t get hold of him until later, it wouldn’t matter.