Then she stepped past Heather and out into the hall. The door slammed behind her. Andrea held still for a moment, her arm tingling from where Heather had grabbed it. Okay, so maybe tonight she’d only ducked out for a quick trip to the shop, rather than out partying with friends, but still, six was too young even for that. And Andrea didn’t believe for an instant that her driver was bringing up other groceries. Heather had gone out for what she considered ‘essentials’, nothing more.

There was also no way Andrea was going to stay away from Violet. The little girl needed someone to look out for her.

CHRISTMAS EVE

The first driver went right by. She was a P-plater on her own. And when she saw the pile-up loom out of the darkness on the side of the freeway, she was too stunned to react. She sailed on past, her heart pounding. It looked bad. It looked really bad. And it looked as though it had only just happened. She knew she should stop, call emergency services. But her hands seemed locked into place on the steering wheel, her right foot unflinching on the accelerator. She was already a full kilometre beyond the accident before her body unfroze and it crossed her mind that now she knew what type of person she was. The type of person who doesn’t stop to help. She would have called the police except that her mum made her keep her phone in the boot of the car ever since her brother had dobbed her in for texting while driving. In the end, she convinced herself it would be okay because the next car would stop and get help.

Later, when she heard on the news that there was a fatality from the accident, and that another person was critical, she wondered whether or not a life could have been saved if she’d helped.

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Friday 4 December

Mimi

The thing that irritated her about it the most was the tone. She knew Pete was trying to sound a bit jokey, trying to make it seem like a casual suggestion, but she could tell there was an underlying note of concern.

‘Should we really be opening another bottle of wine tonight?’

Okay, yes, they’d already sped through a bottle of sav blanc that afternoon. It was meant to be a pre-dinner drink and then finish off the bottle with dinner. But it was Friday and it was sunny and Mimi was still making up for lost time. So the drinks had gone down easy as they’d sat out on the patio overlooking the backyard and listened to the tranquil sounds of the bush.