‘No, thanks.’ I grabbed my car-keys from the sideboard. ‘Could you just ring my dad and tell him I’m going back to mine to look for Digby there. Dad should stick to the streets round here. And can you let the local police know, please. In case they’ve picked him up.’

‘The police? Oh dear. Do you really think it’s that serious?’ Her round face was the epitome of concern.

I nearly screamed in frustration. ‘I don’t know, Jenny. I wish I did.’

As long as I was looking for Digby I didn’t have to think about everything else that was going wrong. But I hit the lunchtime rush and got so snarled up in traffic that my mind began to race through the disasters of the day. I felt increasingly overwhelmed and desperate to get out of London – but I didn’t want to leave until I’d found the dog. I was too frightened to think what might have befallen him. I was still too angry to involve Alex; too depressed to call Seb.

‘Face it, Margaret Warren.’ I looked at my wan reflection in the car mirror, my bruised forehead a splendid mash of colours now. ‘Your life’s a mess.’

I turned on the radio to hear Danny Baker announce the A2 was blocked entirely by a crash involving a caravan. I’d never get back to mine now. I turned the car around; I’d go back to my dad’s and phone Mrs Forlani and ask her to keep a lookout for the dog.

As I drove down my father’s road my dad was just hauling his stooped frame out of his car. He looked tired.

‘Oh Mag, I’m so sorry,’ he said when he saw me, half-opening his arms. I stared at him.

‘What?’ I croaked. ‘Did you – have you found him?’

‘No.’ He shook his head and my legs went sort of trembly.

‘Oh God.’ I sat on the garden wall for a second. ‘Oh God, I thought you were going to say you’d found him and he was, he was – you know.’

‘No, Mag. But –’ he dug in his anorak pocket, ‘I did find this by the gate.’

Digby’s collar, his dog-bone tag that Hannah had given me for a birthday present, with my mobile number on it. I stared at it.

‘Oh Dad. I’m not sure …’ I whispered, ‘I’m really not sure I can cope with this.’

My father didn’t speak. He put an arm around me and led me home again.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three