Kathryn’s brow creased. ‘It’s hard to say. Her counsellor has been encouraging her to draw as a way of visualising her fears.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Some of them are quite disturbing.’

‘Would you like to see them?’ Amelia asked. She had been listening after all, and abandoned her work in progress; the outline of a woman.

While they waited for Amelia to return from her bedroom, Kathryn watched the reporter expectantly. Leanne had yet to explain why she was there.

‘I wanted to speak to some of the survivors, to gauge a reaction to the findings of the inquiry. How do you feel about it?’

‘I’d say my emotions are mixed,’ Kathryn said. ‘On the one hand, it’s a relief to know how the fire was caused, but it’s frustrating that no one can say for sure if there’ll be any prosecutions. At least we can stop pointing the finger at our neighbours. I feel guilty that we were so quick to blame Phillipa Montgomery.’

‘There are worse people in the world,’ Leanne agreed.

‘Got them,’ Amelia said, rushing into the room and dropping a stack of paper into Leanne’s lap.

As she leafed through the artwork, Leanne was aware that Kathryn had turned her body to the side so she didn’t have to look at them too.

‘Are you sure you don’t want a cuppa?’ she asked.

‘No, but don’t let me stop you if you need one,’ Leanne replied without looking up.

There were twenty or more drawings to go through while Amelia’s mum was in the kitchen. Some were simple pencil sketches, while others were busy scenes with gaudy colours and grotesque shapes. Some of the less disturbing included a picture of Alice and the white rabbit standing by a cavernous rabbit hole, but the one that made Leanne’s hand shake was a sea of faces with mouths open in silent screams and tears sliding down cheeks.

‘Do you remember this?’ asked Leanne, horrified by the glimpse into the child’s mind.

‘No, I just remember the screams and not being able to move,’ Amelia said. She was standing at Leanne’s side and leant over to point out something Leanne hadn’t noticed. It was a broken body beneath a sea of chaos. ‘That’s me.’

‘You must have been awake just after the roof collapsed.’

‘I suppose so.’

Leanne moved on to the next drawing. There was no mistaking Amelia in this scene. It looked like a bonfire, with the same figure buried beneath the rubble, and a speech bubble with the word, ‘Help,’ written inside. ‘Do you know how long you were there?’ she asked.

‘Until after the screaming stopped.’

‘And what could you see?’

‘There was dust over everything. The torch wasn’t that good,’ Amelia said. She took charge of the drawings and found one similar to the picture stuck on Leanne’s fridge.