Johnny caught his breath. ‘Christ, that’s going back a bit. She was called Tracey and she broke my heart.’

‘No! Bitch. Mine was called James and he broke mine too.’

‘Well, we’re both scorned lovers. James was an idiot.’

‘So was Tracey.’

They ran on, coming to another road. They paused to check for traffic and ran across. An old sign attached to a fence caught Kelly’s eye.

‘It’s a missing person poster.’

‘Recent? Why don’t you know about it?’

Kelly stopped running and approached the fence. She leaned closer and read the information. It was laminated but the age of the sign meant the photograph was almost invisible from weathering and the wording was difficult to read.

‘Missing boy. 2003. Contact Mrs Edna Beverley.’ The name of the boy was faded too much but the phone number wasn’t. Kelly got her phone out and took a picture of it. The picture was grainy but she reckoned that the boy was a teenager. She hoped he’d been found.

‘I’m going to check that out. I’ve been sifting through cold cases lately but the name Beverley doesn’t ring any bells. Let’s hope he was found quickly.’

‘The boy could have had a different name to the contact.’

‘Sure. Should we make our way back to the car?’ she asked. Johnny agreed and they ran back along the road, coming to the main road and heading to the climbing centre car park. Josie came out of the entrance with a boy. She didn’t spot her father, or Kelly, and she was holding hands with him. Kelly nudged Johnny.

‘Oh God,’ he covered his eyes. ‘My little girl.’

‘Don’t scare him away, will you?’

‘I’ve already been given a warning by her. I’m going over.’

Kelly pulled him back. ‘Wait. You’ll embarrass her.’

‘That’s the point.’ He strode over to the entrance and shouted Josie, who immediately dropped the boy’s hand and blushed. Johnny waved manically and Kelly ran up behind him to try to offer the voice of reason, should it be needed.

‘I’m Josie’s dad,’ Johnny said and outstretched his hand for Callum to take.

‘Dad!’ Josie looked livid. Callum took his hand and shook it.

‘And your name?’

‘Callum.’

‘Hi.’ Kelly caught them up. ‘Good session?’

The teenagers went mute and Josie’s cheeks burned. Kelly felt for her. ‘Hi! When are you climbing at Blencathra?’ Kelly asked. It worked as a diversion and Josie told her the details and said goodbye to Callum, who walked away quickly.

They went back to Johnny’s car.

‘Thanks, Dad. That was so embarrassing.’

‘I want to know who you’re hanging around with.’

Josie sulked all the way home and as soon as Johnny parked outside his house, she got out of the car and slammed the door.

‘Well done, I think you handled that beautifully,’ Kelly said.