Her voice was shaking. Her little hands clinging tightly to my top. She was only three, for goodness’ sake. Still a month away from her fourth birthday. I’d given her the password, never thinking we’d need to use it. It was only supposed to be a precaution in case anyone told her that Paul or I had sent them to get her. It was a silly word. Jellybean. One that made us laugh.

‘He got it wrong, Mammy.’

‘What did he say, sweetheart?’ I asked, smoothing her hair and hugging her close.

‘Forget me not,’ she said and started to cry. ‘I want to forget him. He’s a scary man.’

I pulled Molly as close to me as I could. This wasn’t someone playing some sort of silly game. This was someone trying to scare me. This was someone who’d scared my child. My poor, innocent baby. This was someone twisted and I didn’t know what I’d done to bring it all on us. What had Clare done? What had Julie done? My husband? And that woman who’d found Clare?

It all raced through my mind as I rocked my child in my arms and looked at the door, anxiously waiting for Constable King to let me know if Beth was okay. I felt so disorientated by it all. Then there was Paul and his secret meetings. The scratches. But it clearly wasn’t Paul who’d visited Molly’s nursery. There was someone else. A scary man.

The door opened and Constable King walked back in. I tried to read her face for some clue. She crouched down beside Molly and me and started to speak.

‘First of all, Beth’s fine. Constable Black’s with her now and he’ll stay with her until we get back. Perhaps if Molly can sit with her teacher for just a moment, we can have a chat outside.’

Molly held onto me tighter. I don’t think she had any desire to let go.

‘Sweetheart, if you sit with Catherine she’ll read you more of your story and I’ll just be outside the door. You can see me through the little window.’

‘But what if you don’t come back like the scary man said?’

‘Molly, all my friends in the police are going to be looking for the silly, scary man right now. He’s not going to get anywhere near you or your mum again. If he even tries, we’ll take him straight to jail,’ Constable King said.

Molly blinked, the blue of her eyes even brighter as her tears fell.

‘Is that true, Mammy?’

‘It is, pet.’

She sniffed and toddled over to Catherine, who started reading the book again.

I got to my feet, my legs shaky and my head spinning, and followed Constable King out of the room.

‘The man, he told Molly “forget me not” – he’s linked to those flowers,’ I told her.