She hurried down to the end of the garden, Frankie’s weight already making the small of her back hurt. Thank God the flat wasn’t far away. But how would she avoid being spotted on her way? Once Frankie was reported missing, someone was bound to report seeing her being carried away. Georgia hadn’t thought about that. She paused by the back gate, thinking fast. She knew the area well – she and Alice used to play on their bikes in the maze of back alleys that people put their bins out in, the thin arteries connecting all the big houses. Once she crossed the road, it was, she realized with joy, possible to get all the way to the flat just through the alleys.

She waited in the dusk by the back gate to make sure nobody was about, no silent dog-walkers or those bloody insane joggers who seemed to be running around at all hours. Frankie opened her eyes and looked at Georgia with surprise, so Georgia stroked her soft head and pushed the teddy up to her face for her to cuddle.

‘It’s OK, Frankie, go back to sleep,’ she said. A VW campervan rolled very slowly along the road, as though its driver was looking for a parking spot, and Georgia shrank back against the gate. But to her horror, the driver, a black woman, stared straight at her. Shit shit shit, she thought, closing her eyes. Fuck!

She couldn’t believe it. The first person who’d passed by had seen her! Her heart rate accelerated and she thought she was going to cry. Should she just take Frankie back now, forget the whole thing?

But the woman couldn’t have got a clear look at her – and may well have not even spotted that she had Frankie on her shoulder. It was almost dark now. She shouldn’t worry. She was probably just being paranoid.

She waited a few minutes. No more cars came by, and when Georgia stuck out her head, there was no sign of joggers, or anybody else. The street was dark and quiet now, just the lingering smell in the air of a dying summer’s day. A sudden movement startled her, but it was just a fox, slinking silently along the pavement.

Georgia made her move, rushing across the road and a few houses down until she reached the next alley.

She didn’t notice the woman, following her at a discreet distance. She had absolutely no idea that she’d been followed at all, until she was fiddling with the keys outside the secluded front door of her parents’ flat.

The voice hissed in her ear, taking her by complete surprise, so much so that she almost dropped Frankie, and Frankie dropped her teddy.

‘Give her to me. Now.’