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Jimmy sat back and tapped the pen against his chin. ‘The best I can do is a week, Johnny. If she’s still alive in a week’s time, I’m running it, with or without you. It’s only a matter of time before someone else hears about it. If they do, before the week is up, we’ll have to run it. I’ll call to give you a heads-up if that happens.’

Johnny nodded. It was as fair as he was going to get. Most editors would have run the story and to hell with his family. ‘All right. Thanks, Jimmy. I appreciate it.’

Jimmy stood up and held out his hand. ‘I’m sorry for you, Johnny, honestly. I hope things work out for the best, whatever that is.’

Johnny walked quickly back through the open-plan office and into the lift. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror. He got out on the ground floor, went out of the glass front doors, turned left and made straight for Mulcahy’s pub on the corner. There, he ordered a whiskey, carried it to the snug, sat down and took a big gulp. What had he done?

He tried to convince himself that he had done the only thing possible to save the situation, but his blood ran cold at the thought of how Mia would see it. Would she understand? He was risking everything if she didn’t. But if he wrote the story, it would be compassionate and balanced. If it was anyother journo, they’d go for the jugular on the sensationalism of their bizarre situation.

It felt like a crazy twist of Fate that he was now wishing for Sarah’s little boy to die quickly so some hack wouldn’t write a salacious story about his family. What a total mess. He could end up a pariah to the whole family. Adam would probably beat him up. God knew what Charlie would think. Johnny felt sick. He had no choice. If he could make them see that, everything would be OK. Surely they knew he wouldn’t do anything that could harm or hurt Sarah. He adored her. He was doing this for her, so her death wasn’t twisted into something macabre.

He swallowed the rest of the whiskey, feeling it burn all the way down his throat. For now, he had to pretend everything was fine, that the story was nixed and no longer a threat. It was his job to protect Mia from any more worry. He’d keep reassuring her, and he’d deal with the fallout later.

30

Mia’s plan to inject some normality into her life by working each day had already fallen apart. She had been on her way to the hospital last night when Adam had called to say that the doctors didn’t want Sarah to have any visitors until the following day. They had also called a meeting for the next morning, so Mia had rung Fiona Kelly to let her know that she probably wouldn’t make it into the school that day.

In the waiting room, she sipped a cup of strong coffee and Charlie sat beside her, pretending to read the newspaper. He’d been staring at the same article for ten minutes. Mia’s concentration had disappeared, too. She could barely understand what people said to her: it was as if she was in a fog. Everything was muffled and sounded far away. Riley had asked her for a red pen last night and Mia had made her repeat the question three times. Her brain didn’t seem able to process anything except the medical information relating to her sister.

Maybe that was the problem: her brain was fried after all this medical jargon and she couldn’t take in anything else.

Olivia bustled into the room. She was immaculately dressed, as always. Mia wondered briefly if she tattooed her lips red. Her lipstick never seemed to budge or fade. It didn’t even come off on mugs or glasses. It was astonishing.

‘Oh, my goodness, that car park is always full. I had to drive around four times before I got a space.’

‘You should have let me park,’ Charlie said.

‘Not a bit of it. Sure you’ve enough to worry about without dealing with parking. Now, I brought us a flask of green tea.’

Olivia took out a flask and two cups. She poured Charlie some and handed it to him.

‘Green tea?’ Mia raised an eyebrow.

‘I’m trying to get used to it,’ Charlie said, grimacing as he sipped.

‘It’s very good for him, Mia. All this caffeine is making him jittery and he can’t sleep. The poor man is worn out. He’s up pacing the floors all night. I’ve to beg him to come to bed so I can massage him to sleep.’

Mia spluttered. Sweet Jesus, she really didn’t want to picture that particular scenario. Damn it, now the image of Olivia in a frilly nightdress, with her boobs hanging out, massaging Charlie’s naked body was in her head. Oh, Sarah, where are you when I need you? Mia groaned inwardly.

‘Are the doctors in with her?’ Olivia asked.

‘Yes,’ Charlie said. ‘There seems to be a lot of activity around her, and Angela said we couldn’t go in yet. The physiotherapist was in earlier and now the medical team are assessing her. They want to have a meeting with us at ten.’

Olivia handed Charlie a square cracker with seeds on it. He took it reluctantly. ‘Would you like one, Mia? They’re endurance crackers. I got them at this fabulous health shop that’s just opened up beside the golf club. The man said they’re extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They’re gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free and oil-free.’

‘And taste-free, no doubt,’ Mia said. ‘No, thanks.’

Olivia tutted. ‘You can’t survive on coffee, Mia. You need to keep your strength up. You’re bordering on skinny as it is. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eat up, Charlie. The man said these fill you up and keep you going until lunchtime.’

Mia watched as her father chewed joylessly on the drycrackers. Olivia’s phone rang. She answered it and began to talk loudly, then got up and took her call outside into the corridor.

‘Nice crackers, Dad?’

‘I’d say cardboard tastes better.’ Charlie tried to pick some seeds out of his teeth. ‘Give me some of your coffee while she’s distracted.’ He grabbed Mia’s cup and drank deeply. ‘God, that’s good. This auld green tea tastes like grass.’

‘So tell her you hate it.’

‘Ah, I wouldn’t do that. She’s only trying to help. She’s a heart of gold.’