Geraldine ignored her and marched up the path to Jessica’s front door. Anne’s car was not on the drive and when Jessica opened the door, it looked as though she was on her own. Considering what Jessica was going through, Geraldine shouldn’t have been shocked at the change in her, but it was so marked, she was almost unrecognisable. Her blonde hair hung down in straggly greasy strands, her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin had lost its former healthy glow.

‘Well?’ she muttered urgently as soon as she saw who it was. ‘Have you found her?’

Geraldine looked at her sorrowfully. ‘I have some news for you,’ she said, adding miserably, ‘it’s bad news.’

Jessica glared as though Geraldine was somehow responsible for Daisy’s disappearance.

‘Where is she?’ she hissed. ‘She’s dead, isn’t she? I’ll never see her again.’

Aware of the photographers hovering behind her in the street, Geraldine motioned to Jessica to let her in. Realising they were being watched, Jessica darted back into the hall, out of sight, self-consciously smoothing her hair.

‘I must look a mess,’ she muttered.

‘We haven’t traced Daisy yet,’ Geraldine said. ‘We’re still hoping to find her alive and well. But there’s something else I need to tell you. Please, let’s go and sit down.’

The last time Geraldine had seen her, Jessica had been threatening to change the locks on her doors to prevent her husband from entering the house. She had told Geraldine that if her husband never came back she would be happy. She never wanted to see him again. But the reality could prove very different, and Geraldine was prepared for Jessica to be distraught on learning of the death of her husband. She must have loved him once, enough to marry him and want to raise a child with him. Wondering whether such love ever really ended, Geraldine found her thoughts wandering to Ian. With a shiver, she forced herself to focus on the agitated woman in front of her.

‘I want to ask you about your daughter,’ Geraldine said, ‘and also about your father. I’m so sorry, but we do need to see if there’s anything you know that might help us. We’re not convinced the two incidents are related, of course.’

Jessica nodded wretchedly. ‘Do you think someone might have taken Daisy to get at my father?’

While she was talking she led Geraldine into the living room which looked even more untidy than Geraldine remembered it, with empty pizza boxes and dirty plates on the table. There was a smell of cheese mingled with beer and sweat. Jessica sat down, seemingly oblivious to the mess.