I looked into his eyes. I wanted to see what effect this had on him. I hoped he was OK with it.

‘Your French teacher is my French teacher,’ I said. ‘My personal tutor is your stepmum. Oh, and I took some photos.’ I showed him twelve pictures of the downstairs loo, plus six of the outside of the house, and a very blurry one through the front window, the one I took just before Ms D opened the door.

He stared at them. He put his finger through them. He got me to enlarge the one of the front window and hovered his finger above the screen.

‘Oh God,’ he said. ‘See this? In the living-room window. That’s the back of an award Dad won for being best clown in, like, 1983 or something. I can’t believe it’s still there. That’s exactly where it always was. I saw it there this morning.’

All I could see was a vague shape in the window. It had a curved edge and was facing into the room. In my head an award for being best clown would be in the shape of a miniature clown with a red nose and a scary smile. I wasn’t one of those people who were terrified of clowns, but it did sound unnerving.

‘Was your dad an actual clown?’ I said. ‘I mean, he didn’t look like one today.’

Joe laughed. ‘Not in the way you’re thinking. He wasn’t … Ronald McDonald. If that’s still a thing?’

I nodded. ‘Yep.’

‘And not a creepy one from a horror movie. If you ever want to get him talking ask him about the subtle art of clowning. He can talk about it for hours. It’s an art form. It’s misunderstood. The thing most people think of as clowning is a travesty. It’s related to mime artistry.’ His eyes filled with tears. ‘Yeah. Ask him that stuff.’

‘I will,’ I said. ‘I’d love to. I’d love to do that, Joe. And I’ve been in the house now. I’ve had a cup of tea. I’ve met him. His wife is my personal tutor because she’s a trained counsellor.’

Both of us realized that she must have used those skills a lot with Jasper over the years. ‘She’s probably exactly who your dad’s needed. We’re getting closer.’

‘What happened to my mum then?’ said Joe.

I saw him take a deep breath and realize that, although we didn’t know the answer, we were going to find out.

‘So today’s a big day for us,’ he said, ‘because you saw my dad. And Ariel? I saw your mum. I didn’t handle it very well, but tomorrow I will. She’s here. She’s in town. She lives in my world. I met her.’ I watched him force a smile. ‘I guess we’ve met the parents.’

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