She started to climb the stairs, feeling a bit like an intruder, which, actually, she was, having gained entrance to the place by stealth. Voices drifted out of one of the flats on the first floor, and rap music from another. Someone had the telly on very loud on the second floor and there was an Amazon delivery box left outside another flat. That was trusting of them … or lazy of the driver.

At the foot of the final flight of stairs, she stopped. She was breathing way more heavily than she ever did when she climbed from the harbour to the Crow’s Nest. She tried to calm down again, listening for the sounds of a baby crying or Hannah singing … but there was silence.

It was now or never.

She climbed the final flight and walked up to the top flat door. There was no name outside, no buggy or any other clue that the most precious things in Chloe’s world were closeted behind that discoloured gloss door.

She knocked.

Silence.

She listened and heard a faint movement. Footsteps approaching from the inside. Her heart rate took off.

‘Hannah, it’s Mum,’ she said as the door opened. ‘I’m sorry I just turned up—’

‘Hello?’

The woman who answered was about forty, dressed in a navy trouser suit and heels.

‘Oh. I’m sorry. I thought Hannah was living here.’

‘Hannah?’ the woman frowned. ‘May I ask who you are?’

‘I’m her mother,’ said Chloe. ‘Ruby’s grandmother. I was … in the area and I thought I’d drop in on them.’

‘Oh.’ The woman frowned. ‘Well, didn’t you call them first?’ The woman spoke coldly, obviously not quite believing Chloe.

‘Er … no,’ Chloe squirmed. ‘This was meant to be a surprise.’ She held up the gift. ‘I bought Ruby a present … It’s a hippo.’

The woman looked at the tissue-wrapped lump in the bag, then at Chloe and recognition – of a sort – flickered in her eyes. ‘Oh, right. OK. Yes, you must be her mother. I see that now.’

Chloe realised that this strange woman had processed the fact that she had Chinese heritage with the fact that Hannah and Ruby had too. She’d made the assumption, rightly but for the wrong reasons, that Chloe must be telling the truth. But I could be anyone, thought Chloe …

‘So, is Hannah in?’ she asked, too desperate not to offend or question this woman too sharply.

‘I’m afraid not … but …’ The woman frowned again. ‘Hannah moved out yesterday.’ Her tone cooled again. ‘Didn’t she tell you?’

Chloe just managed not to put a hand on the door frame for support. ‘No. I mean, she might have emailed me or texted … my phone, you see. I left it behind and—’

She was so ashamed, so poleaxed with disappointment that she lied, rather than let this cold stranger know that her own daughter had moved without even telling her.