One

On a bright August morning, Pip fixates on a dead pigeon’s eyes, a trigger for the dead eyes that stalk her memories. Her dad lightens the moment with jokes as they head to the train, but sounds and sights keep morphing into gunshots and blood in Pip’s mind.

At Little Kilton station, the parking area evokes memories of Howie Bowers and a vivid flashback of Stanley Forbes collapsing with gunshot wounds, guilt imagined on Pip’s hands. On the crowded train, she twice mistakes strangers for Charlie Green, the fugitive still unfound months later, while recalling that his wife, Flora, turned herself in.

Pip’s dad reassures her about the mediation and defamation specialist Roger Turner meets them at a conference center. Pip grapples with sweaty palms and a pounding heart, choosing stairs to channel her anxiety into exertion.

At the top floor, mediator Hassan Bashir greets them, friendly and professional. Pip steels herself and enters the room.

Across the table sits the opposing party: Max Hastings, meeting her eyes with a dark, gloating look, confirming the adversary she must face in the mediation.