Rosie held up a hand, taking out her mobile with the other. “One minute,” she said, and clicked on a photo of Kyle Parker. “Ava, did you see this lad at the shelter?”

Ava took the phone but barely needed to look at the image. “He was the one with Nance at the mill. Strutting about like he owned it or summat. We were shifted around a lot, though. No one really stayed at the shelter after the first couple of nights. They took us to a few different houses.”

Rosie crouched by the chair and swiped the screen to bring up another photo. “What about this lass? Do you recognise her? Her name’s Tahlia.”

Ava shook her head. “I’m not sure. I might have seen her in the old mill or by the canal, but I got drunk most nights.” She nudged Chloe, who shut her eyes and refused to look.

“Okay, love.” Rosie retrieved her phone. “It’s okay, we’re finished now.”

“I want my mum,” Chloe whispered, the plea so emphatic it made Jem ache with homesickness. She watched the social worker wheel the chair to the door, Ava following closely behind him.

“Hey, wait a sec,” she said, realising there was a puzzle piece missing. “Were Bill and Nance in charge at the shelter?”

“No,” Ava said. “I heard them talk about a boss, but we never met him. He had a weird name. Fage, Fage-in?” She shoved a handful of M&Ms into her mouth and licked her palm clean. “Or summat daft like that.”

Chapter Sixteen

Jem’s nightmare was different this time. The fire hadn’t changed; the smoke still choked and blinded her, and the air was hot enough to burn her throat, but Rosie wasn’t there to pull her out of the window, and when Jem collapsed on the balcony there were screams echoing from the room she’d just escaped.

She awoke feeling sick and utterly lost. The unfamiliar surroundings, the clothes she was wearing: none of it made any sense until she saw Rosie sparked out on the camp bed beside her hospital bed and everything slotted back into place.

“God,” she whispered. The dream continued to claw at her, forcing her to go to Rosie’s side, to kneel and double-check Rosie was really there, safe and sound and still breathing. “You’re okay,” Jem whispered, feeling the soft puff of Rosie’s breath on her palm. “You’ll be okay, I promise.”