Clutching the food, her bag over her shoulder, she made her way towards the bathroom. Inside, she dumped the burger in the nappy waste bin and crouched down, tearing at the foil lid of the plastic ketchup container. As the foil tore open, she ingested a mouthful of the sweet-sharp-tasting liquid and when she looked up she caught her own reflection, red goop smeared down her chin.

Lifting the rabbit to her mouth, she dabbed it on the stain, being careful to replicate the placing of the jam Callum had left on Otto the day before she left.

But when she pulled the toy back and looked at it, the colour was all wrong. Wiping her mouth with a tissue and throwing it in the bin along with the sauce packet, she looked down at the rabbit that wasn’t Otto and, without warning, her vision flooded with tears.

Feeling her knees buckle, she collapsed into the space between the toilet and the door and ignoring the meter on the cab ticking outside, she sat there, her whole body heaving with tears until she could cry no more.

Chapter 64

Isobel

At the sound of the door being broken down, each of us pauses. For what feels like a lifetime, we stand there, afraid to move, afraid to shatter the moment – terrified of what comes next. But then Eva’s sister calls out and Eva runs towards the landing, away from the stairs.

Seconds later, the sound of the front door being kicked open is followed by the slamming of feet on the treads.

‘Get down,’ the first officer says as two others run in the direction of the landing where he pins Eva against the wall, her face pressed against the plaster.

‘You’re under arrest,’ I hear him say, and I feel the world tip once more.

‘I’m a journalist,’ I shout, raising my hands above my head, feeling I might fall as another officer runs at me, a third emerging up the stairs and holding Eva’s sister against the kitchen counter.

‘Leave her!’ I hear Oscar’s voice shouting at the officer who has lunged at me, and when I look up I see him standing in front of me, Eva behind him being led out in handcuffs.

‘No,’ I say. ‘You’ve got it wrong.’

Oscar shakes his head without a hint of satisfaction.

‘I’m afraid we haven’t.’

Chapter 65

Gabriela