I heard a deep intake of breath. ‘What did he do? Who was he?’

Paul sounded angry, scared, protective.

‘She’s here with me now,’ I said, ‘in a police car. The police are going to help catch him.’ I spoke in my best sing-song, child-friendly voice, hoping Paul would realise I wasn’t free to tell him all the details. ‘There was an incident at home, too, with Beth.’

‘I knew you shouldn’t have left her alone,’ he said before swearing. ‘Is she okay?’

I ignored the dig, fought the urge to scream at him that he had left her too. It wasn’t all on my shoulders, and from what I had seen earlier there was every chance he was more involved in all of this than I ever thought possible. I took a deep breath.

‘I’m on my way home now. The police are with her and she’s fine, but she got a bit of a fright, too.’

‘I’ll be home myself in about an hour. I’ll come and see you all before I go to any police station. Whatever the police want, it can’t be that urgent. I think they just like to mess people around.’

I felt myself tremble. Emotion itching to burst out of me. Fear and love. Betrayal and guilt. From what I knew, it was Paul who had been messing people around.

‘Give the girls a big hug from me,’ he said, cutting through my thoughts, his own voice thick with emotion. ‘Tell them I love them.’

I couldn’t speak. I just nodded at the phone, as if that were any good to him, and hung up.

‘Is Daddy coming home?’ Molly asked, her eyes bright.

‘He is, darling. And the first thing he wants is a giant hug from you.’

If Constable King thought anything of my husband not going straight to the police station, she said nothing and simply kept her eyes on the road ahead.

Beth sat cowed on the sofa, cradling a mug of tea. Her eyes were red from crying. It was the first thing I noticed. She looked up at me when I walked into the room and her face crumpled.

‘I’m sorry, Mum,’ she said. ‘I just ran into the bathroom and locked the door when I heard someone at the back of the house. I didn’t lift my phone. I could hear it ringing, but I was too afraid to go and get it.’

‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for,’ I said, sitting down beside her.

‘I was so scared,’ she said, sobbing into my shoulder.

‘Was the bad man here, too?’ I heard Molly ask, her eyes wide.

Beth looked at her sister and then at me.

‘What does she mean?’

Molly pulled herself up on the armchair and grabbed her favourite pony, which she hugged close to her.