‘I know.’
‘So Harrie told you?’
‘No, I knew before then.’
‘Someone else contacted you? Judy?’
‘Mary, I know, because I was there.’
Mary frowned. ‘You were there? No you weren’t, you visited yesterday afternoon, I saw you.’
‘I went back later. The hospice allows 24-hour visiting, remember?’
‘You went back? Why? Oh. Oh, Miranda, you don’t mean, you don’t mean—’
Miranda nodded slowly. ‘It was me, Mary.’
‘You! But… why?’
Miranda looked away from Mary, stared at the trees dripping water, then turned towards her. ‘For two years I’ve given up everything for that woman. I gave up my course at college, I gave up my job, I gave up my friends…’
‘I know, Miranda, it wasn’t easy for you, I wish you’d had more support…’
‘You said it yourself, Mary: we were lucky. My mum had money. Without that…’
‘I got you a Marie Curie nurse for the nights, she helped your mum into her chair in the morning…’
‘Yes, yes, Mary. I’m not blaming you. But during all that time, there was only one person who really helped me. Do you know who?’
‘No…’
Miranda turned round and called into the car.
‘Ahmed! You’ve got to get out. There’s no point in trying to hide.’
A slim, tall, Asian man got out of the car. He had one of those carefully-sculpted beards that Mary disliked. He smiled awkwardly, then waved at her.
‘Hi,’ he said.
‘You did it!’ Mary yelled without thinking.
Ahmed frowned, then said quietly ‘No, no…’
Before Mary could say anything else, Miranda started talking in a clearer, firmer voice that echoed over the water flowing down the road.
‘When it all started, my mother promised me half the money she’d inherited from my father. That would’ve been nice, but you know I wasn’t doing it for the money, I really wasn’t…’
‘I know,’ said Mary.
‘I did it because I had to, because I was there and there was no one else. And I gave up everything, just to look after her…’
‘She appreciated it, Miranda, she really did…’
Miranda sighed and looked straight at Mary. ‘No, she didn’t. She took it all for granted. I gave up everything, all my friends. Only one person stuck by me.’ She waved her arm towards Ahmed.
‘I didn’t do much,’ he said.