Troy doesn’t say anything. He just glares at me and storms off, clearly believing that I’ve superglued it into my bag. I wish I could run after him and hug him goodbye, but I can’t because he hates me.

At Beachview I buy a can of Lilt, walk into the angry man and there I am, in the cupboard at two minutes past four. A minute after that Ariel arrives. I spring up, desperate to hear about her trip to London, but she flashes me a meaningful look and shakes her head slightly, and I step back.

She’s talking to someone and it’s not me. She’s not on her phone. She’s with a real person.

Whoever it is, I can’t see or hear them, and they clearly can’t see me either.

Gus? Dad? The girls?

‘Voilà,’ she’s saying. ‘The last place Joe Simpson visited before he vanished.’

Ariel glances at me, then looks around. I can see her trying to work out if I can see the other person, or if they can see me. A big no, I think, on both fronts. I shrug and shake my head. Then I realize it’s OK for me to speak.

‘Who is it?’ I say. ‘I can’t see anyone.’

I’m thinking of the people I would most love to be here, but I realize it can’t be any of them because she just last-named me.

There’s a pause, and then she flashes me another look and says, ‘Izzy. You’re my best friend and that’s why I’ve brought you here. This was the last place he was seen.’

I can’t hear anything of Izzy’s reply. I work it out, approximately, when Ariel says, ‘Yeah … But just before he came in there was a man in the mall. Joe bought a drink and walked into him, and the man told him to fuck off or something. We need to find him. I don’t know how to get the CCTV. I mean, they won’t still have it from then, will they?’ She pauses while Izzy says something, then replies: ‘I don’t know. The security guard said.’

I tell her, ‘I wish I could see Izzy. How come you can see kids at school but I can’t see her?’

‘No idea,’ Ariel says, to me, and then she turns to her right. ‘I mean, yeah. No idea why, but I think that man might have something to do with it. He’s part of Joe coming here. There aren’t many clues, and that’s a lead, I guess. Anyway! You don’t have to stick around in here. I just wanted to show you. I’m fine. I’ll hang out here for a bit.’