‘I found a pen drive in his house. I was going to get it to you – I left you a message? But you will not believe the week I’ve been having.’

Minnie asked her to take a seat and gave her a glass of water. ‘And where is the pen drive?’

‘I destroyed it, with my drill. I thought this was Derek McLaverty’s MacBook. I downloaded the pen drive onto it, then I destroyed the drive.’

‘Mary, take a breath,’ Minnie said.

Roddie was tapping his fingers so loudly. ‘Take a breath, baby.’ He thought she was mad. That would be so much better.

‘How did you get into this flat?’ asked Minnie.

‘I broke in.’

‘Oh yeah. How’d you break in?’ said Minnie.

‘I’m telling the truth. I wish I wasn’t. I put it on Derek’s MacBook, which I assumed was this one, to stop him. He’s ruining our lives. Minnie, this has nothing to do with Jack. I did it. Don’t arrest him and make him go to court. Please believe me. It’s true. The press will be all over this at court even if it’s dismissed. No matter what, Jack will be all over the internet as a paedophile.’ Everyone was ignoring her. ‘Please listen to me, Minnie.’

Minnie sighed and relaxed, which made Mary do the same.

‘I understand, Mary. He’s your son. You and Roddie are his parents. You’ll be in his life forever.’

Mary nuzzled her son’s head into her chest. He was having difficulty breathing and couldn’t stop crying.

‘You want to know what was on it, Mary? Remember Fred – we coworked on him five years back? Remember the stuff he liked to look at? Well the images on your son’s computer make Fred’s baby-plus-cats series look like Mary Poppins. Am I right in thinking you’ve just been sentenced for domestic assault?’ she asked Roddie.

‘Yes.’ He was staring at the floor the way John Paul did.

‘And that you had an affair with your client?’ she asked Mary. Minnie was doing a risk assessment on the entire family, and it was not coming out well.

‘No, I didn’t. That was a lie, ask Holly.’

‘You’re a denier?’ said Minnie, who was once lovely enough to be Minnie Mouse. ‘Everyone hates a denier.’ She grabbed Jack’s arm, forcing him to stand, and began reading him his rights.

‘Jack,’ Mary said, ‘I am telling the truth. I did this. I can get you out of it.’

‘Really? If it is the truth, no-one is ever going to believe it. Did you really? Did you really do that?’ Jack was not going down with dignity. Mary tried to wipe his nose with a tissue, but he pulled away. ‘What did you do, Mum? What the fuck did you do to me?’