She waited on the doorstep while the blind woman checked her out. Finally Christine was satisfied, and reluctantly agreed to answer a few questions after Geraldine suggested she could accompany her to the police station if she did not want to talk to her at home. Christine did not invite Geraldine in, but at least she agreed to talk to her.

‘You recently had a woman staying in your house,’ Geraldine began.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Christine retorted, but she did not deny the statement.

‘A woman with a baby.’

Christine’s expression softened, while her eyes wandered past Geraldine and back again, seeming to circle her.

‘The baby’s only six months old. We need to put her welfare above everything else. She’s just a baby. Did you hold her?’

Christine didn’t answer.

‘The baby was fine when she was staying with you, but we think she might be at risk right now.’

Christine’s expression changed again, this time to one of alarm. ‘Lily’s at risk?’ she faltered. ‘How? What do you mean?’

‘Ella told you she was the baby’s mother, didn’t she?’

Christine nodded warily.

‘Christine’s baby Lily died three months ago.’

‘No, no, you’re wrong. Lily’s alive and well. I held her. I fed her. She’s not dead. She was crying and kicking and –’

‘The baby Ella brought to your house is called Daisy. Ella stole her from her mother, and is taking care of her as though she is her own. But she’s not. And Daisy needs to be returned to her real mother. Christine, we’re all very worried about the baby’s welfare. Ella is homeless and we believe she is mentally unbalanced. She can’t take care of a baby properly. She stole another woman’s baby, and she has no money and nowhere to live.’

Christine shook her head and her voice hardened. ‘She stole nearly three hundred pounds from me,’ she muttered. ‘She told me she was just going to the shops but she took so much with her, the pushchair, the baby, food for herself. She didn’t mean to come back, did she? She was planning to go away for good.’

‘She’s stolen money from you, and a baby from someone else. Christine, Ella is a criminal and a dangerous person. You were lucky she didn’t knife you in your bed.’ Geraldine was exaggerating, but it was essential she turn Christine against Ella if the blind woman was going to help them find her. ‘I know she’s your friend, but –’

‘No,’ Christine replied. ‘Ella was never my friend. She was just someone I was at school with. She turned up here out of the blue, and wanted to stay. I wouldn’t have let her in only she had a baby with her, and it was raining.’ She began to cry.