‘It was in her desk drawer at work.’

‘You think something bad has happened.’

Now he looked her square in the face. ‘Don’t you?’

Paula stared into her coffee. ‘Yeah.’

‘I’m sorry. But there’s no point in pretending.’

Paula pushed her chair back and stood up. She wasn’t a small woman but she was barely taller than Okeke sitting. ‘Keep me in the loop, would you?’

He dabbed his lips delicately with a napkin and nodded. ‘Likewise. If Torin remembers anything…’

Paula stood outside the back door in the lee of the building, huddled with the other smokers. She’d checked upstairs and Cody hadn’t returned yet. One short encounter with Cody and she’d already have put money on him taking a detour via one of the outlets in the shopping-mall food hall. Out here by the car park, she’d see him when he finally showed up. She lit up and called Elinor’s mobile, half-expecting it to go to voicemail. But she was in luck. ‘It’s your wife,’ she said. ‘Torin’s auntie.’

‘Ah,’ Elinor said. ‘It was his idea. He’s desperate to avoid being taken into care. Even if it’s only for a night or two. And your very charming colleague seemed willing to accept me as the half-sister of his absent father. He told me his family is also complicated.’

‘And you call him charming. Sounds like you had PC Okeke eating out of your hand.’

‘Police officers and their weak spots. I’m an expert. I’m presuming since you didn’t begin this call in a burst of enthusiasm that there’s no news?’

Paula tried not to sound as glum as she felt. ‘In my job, no news is good news.’

‘That’s tough. Listen, I’m perfectly happy to keep Torin with us, but I think we’ve reached the point where we need to talk to his dad, to put this on an official footing. Not to mention his grandmother and his real auntie. Torin says there’s a facility called ArmyNET that lets him communicate with his dad in real time, so we’ll use that. Are you happy to let me take care of it?’

Again, Paula remembered why she loved Elinor. What was it Tony had once said to her? ‘There’s nothing clever about being clever. In the MIT, everybody’s clever. What’s really clever is being kind.’ And nobody did kind better than Elinor. ‘I would be in your debt. As usual.’

‘I’ll do it when I get home. Torin’s going to a friend’s house for tea and homework. He’s going to text me so I can pick him up. How different their lives are from what ours were…’ There was a tickle of laughter in her voice.

‘I’ll catch you later. I might be late. I love you.’

‘Love you too. Take care out there.’