As soon as they reached the next exit, she would turn around. Would the police be waiting for her when she arrived back at the apartment block?

Oh God, what if there was already an amber alert out for Violet? She really had screwed up everything. She’d have no credibility when it came time to try to explain to the authorities that Heather had been neglecting her daughter.

She realised she’d better get over to the left lane ready to take the next exit. As she started to check around her before changing lanes, she saw a familiar Lexus in her side mirror. Was that Tony’s car? Had she caught up without even realising it and passed right by him? Yep, there was Pete and Mimi’s seven-seater and in front of them, Jill’s Volvo. She started to indicate so she could move across and slot in between them. They were going to be confused when they saw her take the next exit.

‘Andrea,’ said Violet from the back seat, her voice so quiet that Andrea could hardly hear it.

‘Yes, hon?’

‘I’m sorry I told you a lie.’

‘I know, it’s okay, this isn’t your fault. We’ll sort it all out.’

‘You can have one of my lollies if you want?’

Andrea smiled and glanced in the mirror. ‘Nah, it’s okay, you save those for yourself,’ she said as she saw the small girl unscrewing the lid off a container and tipping something into the palm of her hand.

‘Hang on,’ said Andrea. ‘What kind of lollies are those?’

‘Mummy’s lollies,’ said Violet.

Andrea’s eyes flew to the rear-view mirror again but she couldn’t make out what Violet was holding. She twisted around in her seat for a better look. At the same moment as she spotted the small white tablets in Violet’s hand, one fell onto the floor and Violet immediately unclicked her seatbelt. ‘Dropped one,’ she said.

‘Violet, wait . . .’

Violet lifted her hand to her mouth and Andrea reached back to try to catch her arm. ‘Violet! No!’

But she couldn’t reach, had no choice but to take her eyes off the road for a split second. As she tried to grab Violet, the car swerved.

That’s when she felt the huge jolt and slammed her foot onto the brake.

It was too late.

*

Jill

When the car to her right suddenly slammed into her driver’s side, Jill had a moment of clarity. This was it. It was all over. Her sins had been tallied and God was coming to collect. No amount of Hail Marys could save her. There was no way to regain control, not at this speed. She was spinning out of control. All she could do was pray that her family following behind were somehow going to be able to veer around the crash.

*

Mimi