Turning around, Dee found herself face to face with a man about ten years older than her. His accent, she’d already noted, was Irish. His face was familiar, although it wasn’t until he stretched out his hand and introduced himself that she realised she recognised him from the photos she’d seen of him on the internet.

‘Robert O’Brien. I’m here looking for my stepdaughter, Emer Doran. Don’t suppose you’ve any idea where I could find her?’

‘What makes you think she’s here?’ Dee asked, ignoring the outstretched hand. Quickly, she ran back over the bits of information she’d gathered about Emer’s stepfather. Squeaky Clean O’Brien, the small-town politician with big aspirations and left-leaning views that matched the mood of twenty-first century Ireland. The man Shay Flaherty hadn’t been able to find anything bad to write about.

According to Emer, Robert was the person who’d sent someone to contact Dee pretending to be Emer. Which is why, right now, she wasn’t inclined to shake his hand. After a moment, he let his hand drop back down and shrugged.

‘I’m trying everywhere I can think of,’ he said. ‘Her mother is worried sick about her. We both are. Emer’s never been the most stable person, you see. She watched her sister drown in the sea when she was a young girl. The experience traumatised her. She should have had counselling, of course. But in those days… well, let’s just say I’m glad people are a bit more open-minded about that sort of thing today. Sorry.’ He gave Dee a sheepish smile that she bet worked a treat with his constituents. ‘I’m talking too much. A terrible habit, but one you fall into easily in my line of work. I’m a politician, you see. We all talk too much. We’re constantly trying to argue for something or another. Turns us into fierce chatterboxes, altogether.’

He held his hands up and took a step back, away from her.

‘I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing. If you do know Emer, would you just tell her to give us a ring and let us know she’s okay.’

‘Hang on,’ Dee said, as he turned to go. ‘You still haven’t told me why you think Emer might be here.’

‘You’re right.’ He smiled. ‘And you still haven’t told me your name or whether or not you know where she is.’

‘Emer’s my cousin.’ Dee didn’t see why she should give him any other information about herself. ‘She came to see me a few days ago, when she first arrived in England. But I haven’t seen her since yesterday. I really don’t know where she is.’