I jump as the sound of the buzzer breaks the silence. I had assumed nothing more would happen that night, but I was wrong. I hear the scraping of chair legs on the floor as the other two stand up and hurry back to their rooms. Surely she can’t be coming for me again? I don’t think I can bear it if she is, and childishly I cross my fingers behind my back.

But I am safe. I hear the shuffling of feet in the corridor, and when I think they are safely past I slide the door quietly towards me and peep round the corner. The older woman is meekly following Thea, head bent.

Maybe this is my chance? Maybe I can get the younger woman to talk to me – to tell me her story. I wait until I hear the clunk of the locks slipping back into place at the top of the stairs, and I tiptoe across the corridor. I was right about which room she is in. It’s the one where I found the photograph of Paul.

I’m not sure how my questions will be received, but I have to try. I knock gently on the door and push it open.

‘Can I come in?’ I ask, keeping my voice low.

The woman looks up from where she is seated on the bed, her eyes round with fear.

‘I just want to chat a bit. Is that okay?’

She glances over my shoulder towards the door. ‘They’ve gone,’ I tell her. ‘We’ll hear them if they come back.’

I move slowly towards her and sit down, leaving plenty of space between us so she doesn’t feel I’m crowding her.

‘Can you tell me your name?’ I ask. She looks even more worried, if that is possible. ‘Okay. It doesn’t matter.’

I open my mouth to tell her mine, but she shakes her head. ‘Judith,’ she says. ‘You’re Judith, I’m Judith.’

I mustn’t frighten her any more than she already is, so I nod.

‘I understand,’ I say. ‘Have you lived here for a long time?’

I see her brow furrow. Maybe this isn’t a forbidden question and she is trying to sort through her fuddled brain for an answer.

‘Since November,’ she says eventually.

That is only three months before I arrived and yet she seems to be totally institutionalised. Is this how I will be in a few months? The thought terrifies me. I can’t let that happen.

‘Did you come here for a job – to work for Thea and Garrick?’

She pauses again, each question requiring a huge amount of thought, it would seem. Then she shakes her head. ‘They’re helping me. I’m in trouble.’

I nod. ‘Me too.’