I sit up when my phone begins to ring, then stretch to grab it from beside the basin. ‘Bonnie,’ I answer, clambering out the bath, reaching for a towel and struggling to wrap it around myself with one hand. ‘I was trying to call you.’

‘So I see,’ she says bluntly. ‘Where are you? I saw your car wasn’t outside your flat.’ Her tone sounds measured, which brings me some hope she’s sober.

‘I’ve been out with Freya.’

‘Seriously? So what have Cagney and Lacey discovered this time?’

‘Actually, we came to Birmingham.’

Bonnie is silent. ‘Birmingham?’ she says after a moment, her pitch rising.

‘Freya was in touch with Iona’s mum and she agreed to meet us.’

‘Her mother?’ She is yelling now. Another pause. ‘What the hell are you playing at?’

‘Bonnie,’ I say calmly, trying to defuse her over-reaction. ‘I know that for whatever reason you don’t want to hear this, but I think there’s a chance Danny didn’t—’

‘This isn’t about Danny,’ she says, an odd tone to her words now, and I try to figure out what could possibly be unnerving her. ‘Why did you visit Iona’s mother?’

‘Please, calm down, Bon. Because I want to know more about what Iona was doing on the island. And this is about Danny—’

‘And?’ she interrupts. ‘Did you see her mother?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh …’ Bonnie is laughing, but it isn’t a happy sound that fills the line. ‘You have to be kidding me. When are you ever going to stop, Stella?’

‘Bonnie, I don’t know what—’

‘What did she say?’

I slide down on to the edge of the bed, scooping up the towel which keeps slipping off me. ‘That Iona was on the island looking for a sister.’

Bonnie doesn’t answer.

‘Someone called Scarlet.’

Still she doesn’t answer, and it takes me a moment to realise she’s hung up.

I check my signal to find four healthy bars and soon my phone flashes with a call again.

‘Why are you doing this?’ Bonnie cries.

‘I’m just trying to find out—’

‘Are you coming home now?’

‘No, actually I’m staying in a Premier Inn in Shirley for the night because I want to—’

‘You’re still there?’ she shouts.

‘I am, and Bonnie, will you stop interrupting me.’

The line goes dead again, and I stare at my phone before throwing it on to the bed.

Five minutes later Bonnie is calling again.

‘I don’t want you seeing her,’ she pleads.

‘Bon, are you crying? What are you scared of?’

‘I’m not scared of anything. I just want you to come home.’

I sigh in response.

‘Will you?’

‘Bonnie, I know you don’t like what’s going on but you have to let me do this. Bonnie?’ I say as I check my phone and see she’s hung up on me a third time.