Too late, it occurred to her that she should have given Christine a different name. The police would know she had a baby called Lily, and they were looking for her. But as she had hoped, Christine seemed oblivious of the police interest in her new visitor, and barely seemed to register the baby’s name.

‘Oh well, you’d better come in then,’ she said, releasing the chain and opening the door. ‘At least until the rain gives over.’

‘Do you live here by yourself?’ Ella asked, and then kicked herself for putting a question that sounded so suspicious. Christine might think she had come there to rob her. ‘It’s just that my baby is very wary of men,’ she added quickly. ‘She won’t settle if there’s a man in the house.’

Remembering the back story she had fabricated, Ella was already laying the groundwork. But, more importantly, she had to know if anyone else lived in the house. If so, they would almost certainly have seen her face plastered all over the news.

‘You’re all right, there’s no need to worry,’ Christine answered, taking a step back to allow Ella to enter the house. ‘It’s just me here. I have a friend who drops by every week to check I’m all right, and there are plenty of people I can call on if I need anything, but I manage fine on my own. I’ve always been independent. School taught me how to cope on my own,’ she added.

If Christine felt bitter towards Ella for the years of bullying she had endured, she didn’t show it.

‘I’m sorry if we gave you a hard time,’ Ella said cautiously, feeling her way.

She didn’t want to set off an emotional row. She just wanted somewhere safe to stay, with someone who would not have seen her picture in the news.

‘Oh, that’s all water under the bridge now,’ Christine assured her, a trifle too heartily for Ella’s comfort. ‘We were children then.’

‘Yes, but we still should have known better.’

The baby let out a loud cry and Christine frowned. ‘Is she all right?’

‘She’s hungry,’ Ella replied, thinking, ‘We both are.’

‘You’d better come through and feed her and then we can have a chat and catch-up and you can tell me what you’re doing here.’

Christine led her into a living room and gestured to an armchair. ‘I think you’ll be comfortable there?’

Ella realised that Christine was expecting her to breast feed the baby. She wanted to. She had tried. But her milk had disappeared a while ago, and nothing she had done had caused it to return. Those days were over.

‘I need to heat up some milk,’ she said. ‘Is there any chance you could hold her while I prepare a bottle?’