Her lawyer stopped talking and looked over at her, but her eyes were focussed on the bulldog. Her lawyer took a seat.

‘I was in the refugee camp for two years. The whole time my Teete and I were trying to do things the ‘proper legal way’ but no one wanted her. She was too old, too frail, too Syrian.’

Ayamin narrowed her eyes at the bulldog lawyer.

‘If somewhere had taken her in she’d still be here today. I tried to follow the laws as best I could, but when a bomb has fallen on your home there’s only one law that matters to you and that’s the law of survival.’

As Ayamin finished she levelled her stare at the bulldog. He didn’t look away.

‘Is that all Counsel Draper?’ the judge asked.

The bulldog lawyer broke his stare-off with Ayamin and forced a smile, ‘That’s all.’

‘I don’t have any questions for you,’ the judge said to Ayamin, ‘But I want to acknowledge your bravery both today and in your young life so far… You can return to your seat.’

Ayamin nodded and left the stand.

‘Woah… that is some girl,’ Estelle said, no one stares down old Draper like that.’

I grinned, Ayamin’s face was calm, her eyes found the camera and she nodded to us.

‘That little speech the judge gave about the things Ayamin’s been through…’ Estelle said, ‘That’s good for us as well, ‘As long as the Red Cross woman holds up we should be home free.’

Donna was the last person up before lunch. Both lawyers asked about her impression of Ayamin in the refugee camp.

How would you describe Ms Yacoub?

Kind and bright.

Did she ever cause any trouble?

No.

How would you describe the conditions at the camp?

Well, you’ve seen the pictures… it isn’t exactly Buckingham Palace.

Draper the bulldog seemed to have lost his bite. He hardly looked at Donna as he asked two questions that led nowhere.

Lunchbreak was called at quarter past twelve.

‘We shall resume at exactly quarter to one,’ the judge said and we stood as she left. Ayamin and her lawyer turned and walked out of the court. Estelle’s phone started buzzing.

‘Time to discuss tactics,’ she said as she put it to her ear, ‘Counsel McCurdy, good stuff out there.’

While Ayamin’s lawyer spoke, I stared at Draper on the T.V screen. He sat at his desk reading through the sheets of paper in front of him.

His shoulders seemed slumped, and his eyes wandered across the pages.

Estelle moved the phone away from her mouth and waved to me.

‘We’re going to keep your stand as short as possible okay Danny? – And no mention of the marriage.’

I nodded and she put the phone back to her mouth, ‘Yep, Danny understands… I know… she did so well!’

On screen one of the bulldog’s assistants hurried into view. He mopped at his forehead as he stopped at Draper’s desk and put down a sheet of paper.

Draper glanced at it, looked back to his notes, then his eyes sprung open and he seized the paper with both hands.

His arms made quick gestures as he spoke with his assistant. He grinned, picked up his mobile and called someone.

‘Hey Danny,’ Estelle said, touching my shoulder, ‘Ayamin’s on the phone.’

She held out her mobile. I placed it to my ear and looked away from the screen.

‘Hey Danny,’ Ayamin said.

‘Hey Aya… Well done out there.’

She laughed, I imagined she shrugged as well, ‘I just told myself it wasn’t as bad as waiting at the Macedonian border – at least this time I had a full stomach.

‘And I promise, I’m not about to throw you in a creek.’

Ayamin groaned, ‘Thanks a lot,’ there was a slight pause before she spoke again, but when she did her voice was softer, ‘Seriously, thank you Danny… I wouldn’t have got past the border without you. I wouldn’t have kept walking if you weren’t carrying the bag and making lame jokes… I wouldn’t be in England if you hadn’t been with me in Hungary, or Austria, or Italy, or France, or Turkey…’ A sob broke through the phone, and I felt my throat run dry. There was a rustling as Ayamin wiped her eyes, ‘The lawyers think we’re going to win, and when I’m free I know the one thing I want more than anything – and that’s you Danny. I came all this way when the thing I wanted most was right beside me.’

She cried some more, and my voice broke as I spoke, ‘They really think you’re going to win?’

I could hear her nodding on the other end, ‘They do.’

Estelle tapped me on the shoulder, she gestured for her phone.

I held up a finger, lowered the phone, and mouthed one minute? Estelle shook her head. I put the phone back to my mouth, ‘Aya, I love you so much. Estelle needs her phone back.’

Ayamin sighed, ‘Yeah… I know… Good luck out there Danny. I love you.’

I handed the phone back to Estelle, she started speaking to McCurdy again.

The phone call left me a little dazed. As I stared at the screens in front of me, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ayamin. It took me a while to realise that the courtroom was empty.

Draper had gone.