Two fire trucks along with several police cars were pulling up now as well. Firefighters were jumping out of their trucks and unwinding hoses. A second and then a third ambulance arrived. Three paramedics had stopped briefly in the centre of the crash site and Jill was about to scream at them that they needed help, but then two of them made a beeline for Andrea’s car.

One, a tall woman with a short ponytail took a quick look at Andrea. Jill could see her eyes rapidly assessing, but her face gave nothing away. ‘You’re doing great,’ she said to Darren. She turned to her partner and gave him some instructions. They were somehow brisk yet completely calm and he immediately started pulling equipment out of his bag. Then she placed a hand on Darren’s back. ‘Okay, mate, you can step back for me now. You’ve done an amazing job but we can take it from here.’

Darren stumbled backwards and collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

The second paramedic passed the first a pair of scissors and she sliced the front of Andrea’s shirt open, then she held out her hand and was passed a large needle, which she inserted into Andrea’s chest.

‘Oh God,’ said Jill. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m just going to decompress her chest cavity,’ she replied, her voice so relaxed, she could have been saying, ‘I’m just going to order myself a latte.’

A third paramedic, an older man with kind eyes, appeared in front of Jill. ‘Ma’am, were you in this vehicle?’ he asked her.

She stared back at him, seemingly stumped by the question.

‘This car,’ he said, ‘were you travelling in it?’

She shook her head, her eyes returning to Andrea. The first two paramedics were now doing CPR again. ‘I was driving that one,’ she said, gesturing towards her Volvo.

He slipped a band around Jill’s wrist with a yellow tag attached. ‘Okay, can you do me a favour and go and stand by your car, and then someone will be over to take a look at your injuries.’

‘No! I’m not —’ Jill began, but the scene was suddenly flooded with light. She turned to see that tall lights had been set up around the site. For a moment they blinded her, but then her eyes adjusted. In the distance, she could hear the rhythmic sound of a helicopter approaching.

She looked back at Andrea’s car, and that’s when she saw it, lit up now by the strong floodlights. A small purple backpack with Disney Princess pictures on the front. It was sticking out from under the seat behind Andrea. Jill carefully stepped around the paramedics, reached down and tugged the backpack free.

She turned back to Darren, who was breathing heavily, leaning back on his elbows on the ground.

‘Darren, why would Andrea have this bag in her car?’