Rosie pondered that while she sucked her sweets. “No. But I might have to wag my finger sternly and tell you to behave in future.”

Woody spilled cider down his chin, the four-litre bottle too heavy for him to keep raised. He was smaller than Kyle, and a familial resemblance to the Goth suggested they were siblings. “You’re nice,” he said. “I like you.”

“I like you too, so let’s do a bit of a deal.” Rosie took out her notepad. “I’m looking for a young lass called Tahlia, and I was speaking to a mate of yours down by the canal who said you’d seen her in here.”

Woody’s mouth twisted, drawing his lips to one side and making his nose twitch like an inquisitive rabbit. Rosie assumed he was puzzling out how she knew his name or why she was looking for Tahlia, or perhaps he still hadn’t moved beyond the unicorn conundrum.

“Tahlia,” she prompted him, stopping just short of clicking her fingers. “Fourteen years old, mixed race, long curly hair, had a fling with Kyle Parker? You tell me where I can find her, and I’ll forget all about the weed.”

The penny dropped in slow, clearly signposted intervals. Rosie had finished her Smarties and arranged another batch by the time he answered.

“Demi-Lee’s bird!” he said. “I fancied her for a bit, but Kyle said he’d knock me head off if I tried owt.”

“When did you last see her?”

“’Bout two weeks ago. Her and Demi-Lee had a barney and split up, and she had nowhere to stay. She crashed in here for a couple of nights, then she took all her stuff and never came back.”

“Did she say where she was going? Might she have gone home?”

“Naw, her dad’s dead strict, and he’d have killed her for being a lez. She said she’d got a really nice place, but she wouldn’t say where, so she was probably bullshitting.”

“Do you know where her parents live?”

“North Curzon. Tarrick Street, I think, but I don’t know what number.”

The girls were nodding along as he spoke, making no attempt to contradict him or elaborate on the details, and they shook their heads when Rosie asked if they had anything to add.

Satisfied they were telling the truth, she pushed to her feet and folded her arms. “Right, come on.”

They gawped at her.

“You promised you wasn’t going to arrest us,” the blonde said.

“I’m not, but I can’t leave you in here trespassing willy-nilly, drinking underage, and smoking dope. Do you have homes to go to?”

She got a couple of shrugs and a “yeah.”

“Are your parents or guardians there?”

“Our mam’s at work,” Woody said. He pointed at the blonde. “Her big sister will be in.”

“And how do we feel about her big sister?”