Alison picks off the label with her child-like fingers and wraps the candle in crumpled tissue paper. ‘Thirty-five, please.’ She takes the money from Maddy’s hand, skimming her palm with her pointed nails. Maddy flinches.

‘Sorry, did I catch you?’ Her faint blue eyes are surrounded with dark, hollow sockets.

Maddy is silent.

Alison drops the coins in the till.

‘When are you due?’ Maddy asks, even though she already knows.

‘Nine weeks to go, God help me.’ Alison smiles and blows air out of her pursed lips. ‘What about you?’

‘Fourteen weeks.’ Maddy looks down at her roundness.

‘They say your second is always quicker, don’t they?’ Alison tips her head to the side, trying to meet her eyes.

‘Mine was.’

‘So, is this your third?’

‘Yes. But my second child died.’ Maddy tries not to notice Alison’s wide smile suddenly drop.

‘I’m so sorry… are you okay, you’ve gone very pale.’

Maddy’s legs start to tremble. Chloe’s dead face appears in her mind. She puts a hand to her forehead, it’s throbbing and hot. She doesn’t want to be here, she wants to be at home with Emily so she can hug her tight.

‘Come and sit over here. You don’t look right at all.’ Alison brings a chair around to the front and Maddy collapses into it. Her back, underarms and neck are drenched with sweat.

‘Rob, grab me some water.’

The young man comes down from the ladder and goes through to the kitchen. He returns with a cloudy-looking liquid. Have they guessed who she is? Are they trying to poison her?

‘You’re not married, are you?’ Maddy asks.

For a fleeting moment Alison frowns. ‘Doesn’t matter these days, does it?’ She laughs, turning to Rob next to her. He shakes his head.

‘Unless he’s already married, of course.’

Alison’s mouth falls open. ‘Well no, I’d never do that.’

‘Wouldn’t you? How do you know?’

‘Why would you say that?’

‘Because, you can’t trust any of them.’

‘I think you ought to go.’ Rob comes around to the front of the counter.

‘Hang on, are you the woman who knocked at my door that time?’ Alison says, clutching the carrier bag.

Maddy stands up and slams the glass down on the counter. ‘Tell me where my husband is?’ Maddy shouts at her.

‘I told you before, I don’t know him.’

‘You’re lying, what have you done with him – he’s my husband!’

‘Get her out of here,’ Alison calls to Rob, but before he can do anything Maddy is marching towards the door. She skims past the racks of clothes, knocking a grey dress to the ground. Her mother smiles out from a mirror like the Cheshire cat.