The thought makes me uneasy. But they’re not here now, and I’m sure I will hear if anyone is coming, so I creep over to the wardrobe in the first room and look inside. Whoever is sleeping here appears to have no more clothes than I do.

I tiptoe back into the corridor to check there really is no one around and go into the other room that seems to be occupied. I pull out drawers at random, hoping to find something – anything – that will tell me who lives here. I remember the girl from earlier and wonder if this is her room.

The drawers reveal nothing personal until I open the one in the bedside cabinet. Inside is a notebook, and when I flick it open I realise that it is some kind of diary. I read the first page.

I brought Albie to meet Thea today. He is usually such a good baby, but today he was a bit grumpy. I really wanted Thea to like him because sometimes I don’t know what to do with him for a full day and it would be a break every now and then to come here. But I don’t want his crying to upset Thea and the doctor. She said it was no trouble at all, and Albie was probably teething. She said I could bring him any time I like and she made him a drink of squash. I didn’t like to tell her that he’s not allowed that because of the sugar. He seemed to like it, though, and he settled a bit afterwards.

I am about to turn the page to read more when I hear the buzzer – the one that tells me I’m supposed to go to my room and close the door. I don’t know why there is this rule, but I don’t want to be found in here. I hastily flip the diary closed, and a photograph falls out onto the floor. I don’t have time to put it back, so I pick it up and run into my room, sticking the picture under my pillow.

A few seconds later my door is pushed open. Thea stands in the doorway and I have a flashback of the first time I saw her. She was smiling at me from the far end of the long dinner table on the boat as Donna from Louisiana quizzed me about why I was travelling alone. I remember thinking how kind and gentle her expression was, how beautiful she looked with her long silver hair resting on her shoulders. Today the woman I see seems so different from the one I thought I knew, and I feel a heavy sensation in my chest, as if the air is being forced from my lungs.