I shook my head. ‘I’m not sure yet, sweetheart. I need to talk to your dad. But please believe me, neither he nor I are going to let any harm come to you. I promise you that.’

She nodded but I could tell she didn’t quite believe me. The worst part of it all was that I wasn’t sure if I believed me, either.

I got straight to the point with Paul. Told him I thought we should consider the girls going to Belfast to stay with him in the flat until the police were in control of the situation. He looked at me as if I’d grown an extra head.

‘Surely that’s going a bit far?’ he said. ‘What exactly have the police said? Remind me.’

I sighed. ‘They’re going to put on extra patrols. They’re taking these flowers seriously enough to get both them and the cards forensically analysed. They’ve given me a direct line if I need them.’

I was exasperated. I’d told him all this before but he didn’t seem concerned in the way I was. Was I overreacting? Was I losing it?

‘And Julie got something similar?’ he asked.

‘Yes, but a different lyric. A couple of lines from “Ten Green Bottles”.’

He stifled a laugh. ‘You do know how ridiculous this sounds?’

‘Of course I do. And if it wasn’t for the fact my friend has been murdered I’d probably be a dismissive asshole just like you.’

He blinked at my words. Looked as if I’d hit him with them. I knew I’d snapped at him and I immediately felt shame pile in on top of me.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s just hard and I’m scared. I’m really scared.’

I willed him to cross the room and take me in his arms to comfort me. It’s what Michael would have done. He’d have made me feel better. Feel protected. He wouldn’t have laughed at me. Despite my feminist principles and belief that women can rescue themselves, I wanted an alpha male in that moment. I needed Paul to show he felt protective of me, of the girls. Of what we had.

‘So you’ve told me,’ he said, not moving from his spot. ‘But don’t you think it’s a gross overreaction to take the girls away from their home environments, their friends, what they know – to ship them to another city when the most the police think it merits is some extra patrols in the area? Surely if you, if they, were in real danger the police would do more than that? I think we risk doing more harm than good.’

‘But wouldn’t you sleep better just knowing they’re out of harm’s way?’ I asked.