Listening to the details of Fatima’s injuries at the inquest proves too much for Zak. He leaves the courtroom to get some air. Pervaiz follows him to make sure he’s ok and persuades him to come back in to listen to Bill’s evidence. Bill nervously takes the stand and gives his account of the night. As he tells the court how Fatima ran out in front of the car and he couldn’t stop in time he breaks down. He turns to Zak saying over and over again how sorry he is.
The coroner gives his verdict of death by misadventure. Outside Pervaiz spots Talib and rushes over to tell him to leave. Just then Zak comes out and assures his dad its ok. Talib was Fatima’s friend so he has a right to be there. Zak asks Talib why he didn’t tell him about being charged over the passport. Talib reckons Zak had enough to worry about. At least they know that Kamal arrived safely from his letter. Zak doesn’t want to get into a long conversation and starts to head off but Talib wants his friend to believe that he wasn’t involved in anything dodgy. The police got it all wrong. Zak is his true friend and hopefully in time they can go back to the way things were. Zak stops him in his tracks; things can never be the same again. But he’ll never forget that Talib introduced him to Fatima and he’ll always be grateful for that.
Zak says goodbye to Fatima’s parents who are leaving for Scotland. They invite Zak to visit any time. It’s a comfort to them that Fatima’s final days were filled with joy and happiness thanks to Zak.
Zak has one final thing to do. He thanks Bill for coming and telling the court what happened that terrible night. Bill apologises over and over for what he did but Zak stops him. Fatima wouldn’t want Bill to go through this pain. It was an accident and Bill wasn’t responsible. He’s got to stop torturing himself. Bill chokes back the tears. It means so much to him to hear Zak say that. He tells Zak if he ever needs to talk about it, he’ll be there for him. Zak thanks him, but the only person he wants to talk to right now isn’t there to listen anymore.
