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      Nina waited till they were well away from the cubicle before she spoke. ‘Jack, what’s going on?’

      ‘Just come in here and have a seat, Nina.’

      ‘You think I did it.’

      ‘Nina.’ He shook his head. ‘Not for a second did it enter my head that you’d hurt your sister.’ Then he was honest. ‘I did wonder why she didn’t want to spend a night with you, but I think we both know that I don’t jump to conclusions.’

      He didn’t know whether to tell her just yet, but at that moment a nurse popped her head out. ‘Jack, Janey wants you to be in there when she speaks to Lewis.’

      Nina stood.

      ‘She wants me,’ Jack said.

      ‘Why not me?’ Nina demanded. ‘Why can’t she speak to me?’

      ‘Because she’s been trying to spare your feelings,’ Jack said. ‘Because she doesn’t love me and she knows I’m not going to get upset or angry or do anything rash, so just have a seat, Nina, and I’ll be back to you as soon as I can.’

      ‘Have you any idea how hard this is?’ she demanded. ‘You gave me no clue. All weekend you never gave a hint you were going to do this.’

      ‘I didn’t know then,’ Jack said, and he was just so matter-of-fact and calm about everything. ‘Nina, she said something in the car that I can’t ignore but, please, you just have to trust that I am doing the very best I can for both you and Janey, and right now that means that I’ve got to go.’

      It killed Nina to sit there not knowing what was going on. What on earth had Janey said in the car? Had she threatened to self-harm or was she doing drugs? She’d certainly been withdrawn at times. Or maybe she was pregnant? Nina sat there for what felt like an eternity before Jack finally returned, his face grim. He gave her a thin smile and then took a seat next to her.

      ‘She’s fine.’

      Nina blew out her breath. ‘But?’

      Jack looked at her tense face and the bundle of passion that was Nina and didn’t blame Janey a bit for not wanting to be the one to tell her.

      ‘Barbara, her foster-mother, has got a new boyfriend, Vince …’

      ‘Oh, God!’ Nina stood. She just wanted to dash out there, to be with Janey, but again Jack was stern.

      ‘Sit down, Nina, you need to hear this. First of all, nothing has happened, well, not what you’re dreading, at least I don’t think so, but you need to listen and then calm down and then you can go in and speak to Janey.’

      ‘So he hasn’t touched her?’

      ‘He’s tried to.’

      Jack was very calm and annoyingly matter-of-fact, but sadly he dealt with this type of problem all too often, and though it was upsetting a cool head was needed. Jack was very good at that, except as he went through it with Nina he felt his anger starting to rise, an anger that he had to work hard to keep in check. The detachment that made this job easier for Jack was dissipating by the moment as he told Nina all that had happened.

      ‘When you took Blake inside, she got very angry with me, told me I didn’t care, that I’d made things harder for Blake, all that sort of thing.’ Nina nodded, because that sounded very like Janey. ‘Then she said I was up myself with my flash car and my good looks …’ Nina frowned. ‘Then she made a couple of suggestions and I told her that if she carried on like that I would get out of the car and go and get you.’

      ‘Suggestions?’

      ‘She was testing me, Nina, being deliberately provocative, and when I was having no part of it she broke down and started to cry. You know teenage girls do that sometimes, and most guys in an authoritative position know how to deal with that.’

      Nina started to cry, because of all the things she’d dreaded hearing, this was the one she’d dreaded the most.

      ‘Vince has been coming in to say goodnight to her.’ Nina started to retch and he handed her the bin as she struggled to take breaths. She heard stuff like this every day, but it killed her to think it had happened to Janey. ‘She didn’t like it and she told Barbara, but then she got told off, because Barbara said it was nice that her boyfriend was making an effort. He’s been creeping Janey out and she felt that she had to start getting dressed in the bathroom, because he was always finding an excuse to come into her room. Even when she was sent to bed early, or late, or whatever, he’d come in. He’s tried a couple of times to kiss her, made a few inappropriate comments, and basically she’s been fending him off.’

      ‘I’ll kill him.’ Nina could hardly breathe. She wanted to go there right now, right this minute, and she told Jack exactly what she’d do when she got there. Jack just sat there as she ranted on for a while till she got back to Janey. ‘Why couldn’t she tell me?’

      ‘Because she didn’t want to watch you retching into a bin, because she knew you’d get upset and feel guilty, that you’d think it was your fault …’

      ‘It is, though,’ Nina sobbed. ‘It’s my job to protect—’

      ‘Nina!’ Jack was firm. ‘You are not allowed to have your sister as a client for a very good reason. Right now the hospital social worker is coming down to see her, and it will all be dealt with properly. The main thing is, she is not going back there.’

      ‘Can I speak to her?’

      ‘In a moment, when you’ve calmed down.’

      It actually took more than a moment for Nina to calm down. She couldn’t stop crying and Lewis came in and had a word with her and confirmed all that Jack had said. ‘She’s fine, just relieved that she’s told someone. In fact, she’s more worried about you.’

      ‘I’ve calmed down now,’ Nina said, and she looked at Jack. ‘I’m actually glad that she told you. I’d have reacted terribly. It’s just impossible to think of it as another job. It’s different when it’s your family.’

      ‘Of course it is,’ Jack said. ‘You should go and see her.’

      Nina nodded.

      She was determined to be calm when she walked in there, but she burst into tears when she cuddled Janey, and Janey burst into tears too. After a few minutes they calmed down and a while later, Jack popped his head in.

      ‘How are things?’

      ‘Better,’ Janey said, and then her eyes filled up with fresh tears. ‘I’m sorry for all the things I said.’

      ‘Yeah, well, you had a good reason,’ Jack said. ‘But what’s wrong with my car?’

      Janey even managed her first laugh since her arrival at Angel’s. ‘How was she when you told her?’ Janey nodded in the direction of Nina.

      ‘Pretty much as you’d expect!’

      ‘I am here,’ Nina said. ‘I took it quite well.’

      ‘Oh, God!’ Jack impersonated her, and Janey smiled. ‘I handed her the bin …’

      ‘I wasn’t that bad.’

      ‘You were fine.’ Jack smiled.

      ‘Thank you,’ Nina said. He really had been marvellous. ‘We’re going to be here ages, so you might as well go home. Thank you so much for everything.’

      ‘I’ll stick around for a while.’

      ‘You really don’t have to.’

      ‘It’s fine.’

      It was a very long night. Things like this were dealt with thoroughly and given that Barbara had two other foster-children, Child Protection went around to speak with the family, but Vince was out and Barbara angrily denied there had been anything inappropriate taking place,

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