There was a bench seat a few metres away and Jill walked to it and sat down heavily. She wanted to cry but that wouldn’t be fair to Mimi, not right now. Mimi had called her for answers and Jill was going to do her best to explain.

‘I didn’t,’ said Jill. ‘But there was this email and I didn’t want to open it. And then everything that had been going on with Callie. We were leaving the service station and I saw the look on her face and I just . . . I just knew.’

‘What email?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Then make it uncomplicated for me, Jill.’

‘It was from an old girlfriend of Tony’s. She contacted me out of the blue. Said she didn’t want to keep it to herself. She said I had to know the truth about Tony.’

‘Send it to me, I want to see it.’

‘Of course I will.’

‘How long?’ Mimi asked then. ‘How long have you suspected?’

Jill didn’t know how to answer. She felt as though a part of her must have always known. But at the same time, how could she have known? Because she would never have put her own granddaughters at risk if she suspected there was any chance. So surely . . . surely she didn’t know. Couldn’t know.

Mimi’s voice cut through the silence. ‘Jill, for God’s sake, how long?’

‘I got the email four weeks ago. But I didn’t open it until we were at the service station and I saw Callie’s face.’ Her voice cracked. ‘Mimi, please. Is Callie okay?’

There was a pause and then a sob. ‘No,’ said Mimi. ‘No, she’s not okay. He put his hands on her, Jill, he tried to . . . he tried to rape my daughter. His niece. Your granddaughter. So no, she’s not okay.’

The line went dead.

Jill sat still, staring at the floor, trying to hold herself together. Trying to make sense of it all. Then a doctor approached her.

‘Mrs Lewis?’ he asked.

Jill stood and wiped her cheeks.

‘Yes, that’s me. Please, how is she?’

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Friday 1 January — New Year’s Day

Mimi

Mimi lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling fan, watching the blades spin. Trying to follow one at a time, losing it, catching the next one. She would get up soon, but lately she found that she started most days this way. Taking a moment to ground herself before she could get out of bed.