The phone in my bag buzzed and I snatched it up before the nurse could look disapproving. I took it to the corridor, trying to clear my throat. ‘Hello, Ali Morris.’ Was this the news about Jake?

A man’s voice, measured and harried. ‘Hello, this is Arthur Ravenscroft speaking.’

Mike’s boss, returning the call I’d made earlier. ‘Yes, hello. We met, at the Christmas do last year?’

‘Of course.’ He’d no idea who I was. ‘We’re terribly sorry to hear about Michael’s accident.’

‘It wasn’t an accident, sadly. He was attacked.’ By his own son. I wondered how much people knew. ‘Mr Ravenscroft, there are some . . . discrepancies in our accounts, and I wanted to check what the position was with Mike – with my husband’s salary.’

His tone changed. ‘Ah. Yes. If it were just a case of sick leave, then we’d pay that for a month, then statutory thereafter, but I’m afraid we have a strict policy for employees who are accused of a crime. They’re immediately suspended and we reserve the right to terminate their employment.’

My mouth was so dry I couldn’t speak for a moment. ‘But what if they’re acquitted? If it’s a false accusation.’

‘There’s compensation available, I believe.’

‘But . . . we don’t know how long it will take to come to trial. He’s not even conscious.’

‘I know, Mrs Morris. But the firm can’t be associated with a crime of this nature. Our client base is somewhat . . . conservative. And we signed up to a zero-tolerance charter on sexual harassment. We have to distance ourselves.’

‘So what – what do we do for money?’ My voice was too loud, I knew. A nurse stuck her head out of a cubicle, frowning. It was undignified, but I was starting to panic. This couldn’t be happening.

‘I would hope that with our generous bonus scheme, Mike had savings. Or of course if the case were to collapse . . . I’m sorry, Mrs Morris. This is the policy and we’re perfectly within our rights. We could have fired him already. Now, I must go. I do hope he recovers soon.’

The line went dead. So there was my answer. If I wanted to keep my home for my children’s sake, I had to get Mike’s case dropped, and fast.