‘Marcus can fill you in on the rest,’ said Claire, herding her children into the hallway. They put on coats and shoes and then left for the park.

Jameson turned to Jane. ‘We need you to tell us as much as you can about your mum. You need to be totally honest. We need to hear everything. OK?’ Jameson’s voice was gentler than normal. It was obvious that he cared a great deal about this young girl.

Jane curled her feet under her legs and nodded. ‘Where do you want me to start?’ Her voice was still croaky with sleep.

‘Just tell us what your mum’s like,’ pressed Jameson.

Jane looked out into the garden. ‘Mum’s a bit crazy, completely nuts sometimes, but …’

Jameson waited.

She looked at them both. ‘She tries her best. Dad left her with nothing. She was on her own at twenty-one, a single mum with a two-year-old and no job.’

Most sixteen-year-olds thought twenty-one-year-olds were ancient. Bloom guessed these might be Lana’s words, rather than Jane’s own.

Jane continued, ‘She applied for an office job at the Army base but she did so well on her tests and they liked her so much that she joined up.’ She shrugged. ‘So she’s been away a lot and I stayed with Claire and Sue. I’d be excited to see her when she got back, but she was always distracted. She just wanted to sleep. Or go out and party.’

‘Sounds tough,’ said Jameson.

Jane stared into her tea. ‘I try to take care of her and look after the house.’

‘Course you do.’ Jameson smiled at Jane. ‘Has your dad ever made any contact with you or your mum?’ This would be a key line of inquiry if the police looked into Lana’s disappearance.

Jane shook her head. ‘Mum made sure he couldn’t find us. He was a druggie. He stole money from her. Once, when I was a baby, she left me with him and when she came back I had a bruise on my face. And she promised she’d never let him hurt me again.’

‘So did he leave? Or did she throw him out?’ Bloom asked.

Jane frowned, then nodded. Bloom picked up her pen and scribbled in her notebook, Dad left or kicked out?

‘And how was your mum before she went missing? She was on extended leave?’ Jameson said.

‘Yes, because the PTSD was getting worse.’

‘Did she receive any treatment?’ said Bloom.

Jane shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘But they put her on extended leave?’ said Jameson.

Bloom wrote down, Leave without treatment?

‘And how was she doing?’ Jameson asked again.

‘She was OK. Always drinking too much and spending all day on the computer, but her mood was good. She wanted to go out for tea on her birthday. It would have been nice, but then …’