‘I’ll go and call her. My friend, he’s waiting in the car. I’ll borrow his phone … You – I expect she’s sent her new address but you don’t happen to know it, do you?’ she asked.

‘No idea, I’m afraid. Good luck with finding out. I’m sorry but I have to get on with the assessment for the next tenant.’

Then she closed the door, almost in Chloe’s face.

Chloe stood there for what felt like an age before the instinct to get away from this crushing situation kicked in. She scooted down the stairs, past the smells and sounds of other families’ lives. The disappointment weighed on her like a rock. Hurrying, she opened the door and stumbled down the steps.

Drew was out of the car and on his phone when he saw her, but she rushed past him, the bag banging against her legs.

‘Wait!’ he shouted after her.

No. She could not let him see her pour out this grief, which summed up all the loss and disappointment of the past few years. No one should see it.

But he followed her. Once he’d caught up with her, she forced herself to calm down. ‘She wasn’t there. She’s gone. I’ve no idea where and neither had the letting agent. I’m back to square one. Worse than that. I don’t even know where she is now.’ She was shaking. ‘And we should be in Porthmellow, sorting out the festival not here on a wild goose chase.’

Drew grabbed her by the arms, gently holding her. ‘For God’s sake. Stop trying to be brave. Scream if you want. Shout. Hit something, as long as it’s not me.’ He looked her straight in the eyes. ‘Just have a bloody good wail and then, when you have, we are going to start again and we are going to find her, festival or no festival.’

Chloe sat in the car for a while and composed herself, before Drew persuaded her to have a quick walk around Clifton and even force down some tea and a scone in one of the pavement cafés. She hadn’t eaten in hours, it was a long drive back to Porthmellow and they both needed a break.

Once the initial shock was over, it was very rapidly replaced by concern. If Hannah wasn’t living at the flat with Ruby, where were they living?

‘I hope she hasn’t gone back to Jordan. Although perhaps that would be better than nothing.’

‘They might be in a hotel nearby,’ he suggested, adding a large spoon of sugar to his tea.