They were back at the kitchen table. Hannah rubbed at a sticky whisky ring on the wood. It was a beautiful day outside, light flooding in. She looked at dust drifting in the light and thought about subatomic particles, even though she knew particles weren’t really particles at all, they were waves or fields or forces, any number of different metaphors that didn’t quite fit the numbers and equations we throw at the universe.

‘I’m not a private investigator,’ Jenny said, sipping coffee. Her mug had an Indian depiction of Buddha on it. The coffee smelt strong.

‘Neither am I.’

‘So we can’t do this.’

Hannah raised her eyebrows. ‘You always used to tell me I could do anything if I put my mind to it.’

Jenny rolled her eyes. ‘Come on, that’s what parents tell kids so they don’t end up as junkie pole dancers.’

Hannah drank her green tea. ‘Thanks.’

Jenny waved a hand at the PI whiteboard on the far wall. ‘Your gran will know better, she watched Dad do it for years.’

Hannah leaned forwards. ‘You’re my mum, I’m asking you for help.’

Jenny shook her head.

Hannah felt her anger rising. Her mum was such a shrugger, what was it Gen X called themselves, ‘slackers’? Just an excuse not to engage with the world, not to expose yourself to real feelings.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ she said. ‘I’m asking you to help me.’

Jenny sat up. ‘My dad just died, or did you forget?’

Hannah stared wide-eyed. She wanted to apologise but she also wanted to shake some sense into her mum.

Eventually Jenny spoke. ‘Anyway, I have no clue where to start.’

That was acquiescence of a kind. Enough for now.

‘How hard can it be? We just investigate,’ Hannah said. ‘We talk to people, trace Mel’s movements, look into things.’

‘She’s probably already safe and sound back at your place.’40

‘Indy would’ve called.’

‘I just don’t think it’s a big deal.’

Hannah pulled out Mel’s phone, clunked it on the table. ‘She would never go anywhere without this. And it’s over twenty-four hours since anyone saw her.’

‘You’re acting like people aren’t allowed to do their own thing,’ Jenny said. ‘Not everyone has to be contactable every minute of the day.’

‘Please spare me the rant about the old days, four television channels, no remote controls, no Internet. You made your own fun with a hoop and a stick.’

‘Maybe she went away for some peace, to study, or take drugs, or have glorious sex with unsuitable men.’

‘She didn’t take any clothes or her phone or a toothbrush. If she was having mad sex with a biker gang she would want clean teeth.’

‘She’ll turn up.’

Hannah pushed her chair back. ‘I hope so, but in the meantime let’s look for her.’