Nico went to reception, through the double doors that opened automatically, easy to manoeuvre the buggy through. The young man on the front desk tried first to funnel him back in the teacher’s direction with an appointment to meet Mrs Calcashaw but Nico had now decided Mrs Watts was his mark, and resisted. ‘It’s a matter of whole-school policy,’ he said and the young man went off to consult Mrs Watts.

Maria passed the time by kicking until one of her red boots came off, then looking at Nico expectantly. He’d just restored the boot to her foot when the young man returned. ‘Mrs Watts can see you in ten minutes if you don’t mind waiting.’

‘Great, thanks,’ said Nico.

Maria kicked the other boot off.

Nico made a mock-scary face at her and laughter gurgled from deep inside her. It was impossible not to be enchanted so he passed the wait making Maria laugh. In Mrs Watts’s room, Nico parked the buggy and took a chair. Mrs Watts, tall and thin with short black hair, smiled from behind her desk. ‘How can I help you today, Mr Pettersson?’

Nico kept his tone genial, expressing his concerns about Josie being unhappy at school.

Mrs Watts smiled reassuringly. ‘It’s early days yet—’

‘Two months,’ Nico reminded her. ‘Josie has never been unwilling to attend school before.’

‘There’s bound to be a little settling down when schools merge,’ Mrs Watts said, comfortingly. ‘Josie seems a happy little girl in school. We see nothing to concern us. And, of course, whenever things are unsettled in the family, children do make excuses to stay at home because they want to check everybody’s still around.’

Nico realised he should also be making the school aware of Loren’s troubles but felt it would only justify what the head had said, making it easy for her to further deflect him. Instead, he said, ‘This is a direct request to put Josie back in Mrs Symonds’s class.’

Mrs Watts tilted her head. ‘The decision to put Josie in Mrs Calcashaw’s class has been made, I’m afraid. Classes were decided with a view to what’s best for the whole school, bearing in mind all the factors. It was considered that Josie’s people skills would make her just the little girl to make a success of mixing with new children.’

Waning patience made Nico blunt. ‘She’s unhappy. The children from both schools should have been mixed up in every class. Surely you can see that?’

‘Out!’ Maria demanded, from her buggy.