Dominic shakes his head, and I step back quickly into my room as Fran turns and starts thundering her way up the stairs. I sit back on my bed, watching Dominic out of the window as he strides away up the street, his head down, not looking back. The door to Laurel’s room clicks open, and then closed again as I hear Fran heading in there. I’ll let her calm down – if I go in there now, she’ll only turn on me. It wouldn’t be the first time I got it in the neck for something someone else has done to upset her.

The thought of leaving floats across my mind again and I have to force it away. What if Laurel comes home and you’re not here? How can you leave her to these two, warring and fighting, always in a constant battle? the devil on one shoulder asks me; What if she never comes home? Will you just stay here forever? the one on the other side asks. I sigh and scrub my hands over my face.

If I’m honest, I’d thought about leaving a few times, long before Laurel disappeared, but couldn’t bring myself to leave her with Fran and Dominic. Both of them busy with their careers, I was often, as Dominic just threw back in Fran’s face, the only one available to take her to school plays and go to parents’ evenings. And I was attached to her – the way her eyes lit up when she saw me in the playground at the end of the school day, the way she snuggled down under the duvet while I was reading her a story. We have a connection, the two of us, one that I can’t bring myself to break even though she isn’t here. You’ve been more of a mother to her than Fran ever has, a voice whispers way back in the dark corners of my mind. No, I can’t leave. Not without knowing that she’s home and safe. The click of the door breaks into my thoughts and I see Fran coming out of Laurel’s room through the gap in my door. She hurries down the stairs, and I wait a few minutes before I follow her down.

‘Fran? Everything OK?’ She is closing the door to the garage as she steps into the kitchen, and she jumps, placing her free hand to her chest.