In Alison’s bedside drawer, she picks up a leaflet for a local beauty salon, a nail file, sparkly gold nail varnish and a pair of diamante hoop earrings. She catches sight of herself in the mirror. There’s nothing wrong with a natural look, it’s one of the things Max said he loved about her. Or was he lying about that too, and a tart is what he really prefers? Underneath, she finds a folder of maternity notes for Alison Jane Wood. She reads through the details of her antenatal appointments, birth plan and the hospital she’s booked in with, noting that the baby is due six weeks earlier than hers. She wants to rip them to shreds but she slams them down on the bed. A piece of paper flutters out. A handwritten list of mostly boys’ names with numbers ranking them from one to ten. She shudders and in a blink it’s the page torn out of a notebook on her father’s desk, beneath a jar of barley twists. She shudders at the memory of their taste.

She’d been looking for a crossword puzzle but came across a sheet of lined paper instead. On the left-hand side was a list of women’s names she recognised: Judith, Jayne, Linda, Caroline, Barbara, Lisa and Bunny. Bunny was their babysitter. Linda was her mother’s friend. All neighbours in their street. On the right-hand side each was scored from one to ten on their looks and, in another column, their performance in bed. She thought she would be sick right there on his ebony writing desk. Picking it up, she vowed that her mother must never know. She had to burn it. But in that same moment, she felt someone’s presence behind her. Spinning round, her father was standing there, looming over her, frowning. He snatched the piece of paper out of her hand, a nasty grin distorted his face as he tapped the side of his nose.

That was the first time she realised she didn’t know her daddy at all. She wished he’d dropped dead on the spot to avoid all the heartache to come.

The phone next to the bed rings, making her jump. The dog grumbles and gives a half-hearted bark. The phone rings off. She peers out of the window at a woman approaching from the house across the road. Blood drums in her ears. Moments later she can hear a key slide into the lock and the front door is opening. Maddy freezes.