People who disappeared or died were always lovely. Nobody’s parents ever said, She’s a bit of a shit, actually.

‘All this business with barbecuing meat on the internet,’ Helen said, ‘that’s not really Violet. It was just silliness, and then people kept asking her to do more and more. But underneath she’s just a normal girl.’

‘Was she worried about anything, that you know of?’

‘She started getting horrible comments online.’

‘We’re looking at the people who commented on her videos. Did anyone contact her in person?’

Helen shook her head. ‘We haven’t seen her since she moved to Gritton. Most people are found, aren’t they? Nothing will have happened to her?’

‘Most teenagers turn up safe and well.’ I tried to give her a reassuring look. ‘We understand she was adopted?’

‘Did she find her biological family?’ Helen’s face was tight with anxiety.

Roy lifted his head and spoke, more to his wife than to us: ‘I knew it would come and bite us in the arse one day.’

I looked at Helen, sensing we’d get more out of her than her somewhat rabid husband.

‘We adopted Violet when she was a baby,’ she said. ‘It was what they call a closed adoption – no contact between the birth family and Violet. All we were told was that her mother was called Rebecca Smith and she was originally from Gritton.’

‘So, Violet went to Gritton to find her biological parents?’

‘Yes,’ Helen said. ‘We told her not to. Begged her, in fact.’

‘Perhaps you can help us with one detail we’re confused about,’ I said. ‘Violet was convinced her birth mother was dead, but she’s not.’

Helen blushed. Shot a look at Roy, ‘We have to tell them, love.’

‘We thought it was for the best,’ Roy said, his voice stiff. ‘We met Rebecca Smith’s aunt before we adopted Violet. She told us to keep Violet from having any contact with her natural mother or father, and to keep her away from Gritton.’

‘Why would she say that?’

‘She wouldn’t tell us. She said she couldn’t.’

That was strange. A pattern was emerging of people keeping away from Gritton. ‘Did Rebecca Smith’s aunt know who the father was?’ I asked.

‘We have no idea,’ Roy said. ‘Look, nowadays everyone wants to know everything, and there are these shows on the TV with ridiculous sobbing reunions. But it was different even a few years ago. A lot of people thought no contact was best. We told her right from the start she was adopted. But we thought the easiest way to stop her trying to contact her mother was to say she was dead.’

‘That seems extreme.’