‘In Australia?’ Frank raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think so, love. I couldn’t leave your mum . . . or Evan.’

As he spoke, he gazed through the crematorium doors, taking one last look at the curtains behind which his son’s coffin lay before turning Jo away and walking her over to Marie.

‘Come on, let’s get you home,’ Jo said, linking her arm through Marie’s.

Marie lifted her tear-stained face and shook her head.

‘I can’t leave Evan on his own.’

‘He’s being looked after,’ Jo said, pushing her own grief aside to help the broken woman. ‘And he’d want you to be looked after, too,’ she said, as she led her gently away from the flowers. ‘He loved you so much.’

‘Did he?’

‘More than you know, love. More than you know.’

Watching as the women climbed into a car, Frank stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared down at the flowers, the words on the cards blurring as fresh tears filled his eyes.

‘Excuse me . . . you’re his dad, aren’t you?’

Looking round, Frank smiled at the two teenaged boys in suits who were standing behind him; one of them a tall, good-looking, mixed-race lad; the other white, shorter and chubbier, wearing a pair of thick-lensed glasses.

‘I’m Jordan.’ The taller boy introduced himself, holding out his hand. ‘And this is my best mate, Keegan.’ He nodded at the other. ‘I really hope you don’t mind us coming, but we’re the ones who found your son, so we wanted to pay our respects.’

‘I don’t mind at all,’ Frank said, shaking his hand before reaching for Keegan’s. ‘If it hadn’t been for you two, we might never have found him, so you’re more than welcome.’

A pretty young girl had appeared at Jordan’s side, and she smiled nervously at Frank as she grasped the boy’s hand.

‘This is my girlfriend, Chloe,’ Jordan said proudly, his eyes lighting up. ‘She thought you might be annoyed about us turning up uninvited.’

‘Not at all,’ Frank said, leaning forward to give the girl a little kiss on the cheek. ‘I imagine you’ve had a long journey to get here, so you’re all welcome to come back to the house for something to eat before you go back, if you like?’

‘Thanks, but my mum’s waiting for us in the car,’ said Jordan.

‘Sorry about your son,’ Keegan added, shoving his glasses up his nose.

Nodding his thanks, Frank watched as the three scuttled away.

‘That was nice,’ DS Strachan said, coming over when Frank was alone.

‘It was,’ Frank agreed. ‘Gives you hope for the future, doesn’t it? You can start thinking that this generation are all troublemakers, and then you meet nice kids like that.’