‘Will you be extending the search area now beyond the immediate vicinity of where Laurel was last seen?’

‘We will. We have been made aware of some information that may help us to narrow down a route that whoever took Laurel may have taken.’

‘Do you have any names?’ someone shouts out, and the entire school hall seems to hold its breath. I feel as though I haven’t taken a full breath myself since Fran and Dominic took their seats in front of the press. I am so relieved that I stood my ground.

‘When we have a name that we can release, we’ll let you know. One more question,’ DI Dove says sternly, taking a quick glance towards Fran and Dominic. Dominic seems to be OK, holding his own although his jaw is tense, but Fran looks fragile. She rearranges her features, trying to hide her emotion as best she can, and I wonder if she’s calling into play her drama training in an attempt to hold things together. Despite her best efforts, her face has lost any colour it might have had, leaving her cheeks a now familiar chalky white, her dark fringe lying starkly against her forehead. The tiny slick of pale lip gloss she smeared on glistens on her mouth as she moves her head slightly, to glance at whoever is off screen. Kelly, I presume, there to give support.

‘Did you have anything to do with your daughter’s disappearance?’

The question is asked, and the room falls silent. I feel light-headed, the room swaying slightly around me. I pull at the scarf, loosening it away from my hot skin.

‘Shiiiitttttt,’ a young lad in a bright yellow high-viz jacket whispers under his breath as he leans against a table, coffee in one hand, a poster bearing Laurel’s face in the other. On screen, the room erupts, as Dominic gets to his feet.

‘Are you kidding me?’ He shoves his chair back. DI Dove frowns before following suit. Fran says nothing, only blinks as her façade cracks and tears spill over her cheeks. She presses the tissue to her mouth again, Bom lying limply in the other hand.

‘Enough.’ Dove raises his hand, as Kelly appears on screen to usher Fran and Dominic away from the baying press. ‘No more questions. The appeal is over.’ He turns and follows Fran and Dominic from the room and the screen cuts back to the anchor in the newsroom. There is a shocked silence that fills the hall for just a few moments, before the conversation resumes, although more quietly than before.