Larry looked like he was about to say yes when his mum said, ‘No, he loves reading. Always got his nose in a book,’ and Larry squirmed with embarrassment. Patrick knew that, for teenage boys like Larry, reading was considered somewhere down there with being fake – this generation had, in Patrick’s limited experience, an obsession with ‘keeping it real’ and being ‘true to yourself’.

They sat on the armchairs opposite Larry, with his mother standing behind the sofa.

‘Larry, we want to ask you a couple of questions about the night of the ninth, the day before yesterday,’ Carmella said. She leaned forward, her eyes wide, transformed from the quiet, sad person she’d seemed on the way over. Patrick saw Larry’s eyes flick to her chest for a nanosecond.

‘You mean the night Frankie got snatched.’

‘That’s right.’

The teenage boy was making a tremendous effort to sit still. Patrick could almost see balls of tension and energy bouncing around inside him. Larry said, ‘You are going to find her, right? She’s such . . . such a sweet little kid. Alice is in bits.’

Carmella was right on the edge of her chair and she reached out and touched Larry’s forearm. ‘You think a lot of Frankie?’

‘Yeah, course.’

‘Then maybe you can help us find her.’

‘What do you mean? I don’t know anything.’

Patrick said, ‘Where were you on Sunday night?’

Larry said, very quickly, ‘Out with my mates.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Just, you know. Hanging around. Chatting.’

‘You didn’t go round to see Alice?’ Carmella said. ‘She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?’

‘Yeah, she is. But no, I didn’t go round.’

Carmella smiled. ‘She’s a very pretty girl, isn’t she? Stunning.’

Larry did his squirming thing again, but there was a hint of pride in his expression. That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about. ‘Yeah. She is.’

‘And you knew her parents were going to be out?’

‘No. No, I don’t think so.’

Carmella chuckled. ‘Really? We wouldn’t blame you if you went round there Larry. Whatever you got up to, we don’t care.’ As she said this she looked blatantly at his groin and he blushed. ‘If you’re worried you’re going to get into trouble because Alice is underage, I can assure you we’re not concerned about that.’

He was bright pink now while, behind him, his mum had gone pale. ‘I didn’t go round there. And even if I had, I don’t see what it would have to do with Frankie disappearing. I didn’t snatch her or nothing. As if!’

‘We just want to know if you saw anything.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘So you were there?’ Carmella said.

‘No. No, like I told you. I was with my mates.’

‘But, Larry, a neighbour saw you there. Cycling away.’