‘You look knackered,’ she says as she sits down again, her voice gentle. Reaching for a box of Malboro from my pocket, I sniff. Maureen pushes the ashtray towards me. ‘What are you thinking, about the girl? How can I help?’

‘I don’t know, to be honest, I just … I thought maybe you might have heard something or maybe …’

My shoulders drop. The truth is, I have no idea what I am hoping for. All I know is that I have nowhere else to turn, and Maureen is one of those people who solves problems. Not least mine.

‘You must be petrified,’ she says and I look up at her, the words taking me by surprise. I am, and yet it isn’t the fear that is driving me; the fear is superseded by the sense that I have to do something. Not like last time …

Pushing the unwanted thoughts away before they can fully take hold, I turn my attention back to Maureen.

‘I just can’t stop thinking about her. You get a lot of girls coming through here, I thought it was worth a shot … Given the number of women you support, and how small the community we’re talking about is; I mean, there just can’t be that many people from that part of the world here in North London, and she has to be from around here, right? Otherwise what the fuck would she have been doing on the Heath at 6a.m.? Presumably someone must know her – someone must have noticed that she’s gone? It’s a tight community. I wonder if any of the girls here have mentioned anything?’

‘We’ve had a few women coming in from the general area you’re talking about, over the years,’ Maureen says after a while. ‘Since the war. Obviously I can’t say for sure that this woman, girl, whoever she was, was trafficked here – she could be working in a bank for all I know – but if we’re going along with your theory, then … well, let’s just say in my experience women coming out of the chaos of war are rarely left with their free will. In the Nineties, we saw a lot of girls being brought over from afflicted areas. And once a gang establishes itself, they tend to hold onto that power, even once peace is supposedly flourishing.’

Maureen stops for a minute and lights another cigarette before continuing. ‘As for getting someone to talk …’

She shakes her head and takes another drag. ‘I don’t know. I mean, you can try, but this whole industry operates on fear. We’re talking billions of pounds, and the men who run the gangs, they’re organised. They don’t take chances. If you knew the levels they go to in order to ensure these women don’t run, and even if they were found they wouldn’t talk … It’s mind games, a lot of it.’