Chapter 24
Emma stood alone in the street as the dark car powered away in the traffic. People moved around her as though she was an island in an estuary, negotiating her body whilst avoiding the bubble of black misery surrounding her. She examined the keys in her hand, recognising the ignition key for Rohan’s Mercedes but nothing else. The direction of Rohan’s house eluded her like a dose of brain freeze and Emma panicked. “Please, can you help me?” She appealed to a woman pushing a buggy and felt relieved as she stopped.
“Here, now leave us alone. Get a job!” the woman snapped, throwing a pound coin onto the ground at Emma’s feet.
“But...” Emma began, ignored as the mother pulled her other two uniformed children closer into the arc of protection around the pram.
“Go away!” the woman r
