‘Just that the Jessops called in Margaret Lawler. She’s well-known, you know. Me and my mum went to see some stage show thing she did years ago. I suppose in psychic terms you could call her quite famous. She’s written books and stuff.’

‘I had no idea.’ I wonder whether Fran knew all of this when she took the phone call from Margaret Lawler. I’m certain Dominic didn’t – he never would have agreed to her visit in the first place and certainly not if he knew she was well-known.

‘People are starting to talk,’ Jess says suddenly, her cheeks flushing scarlet as she toes the mulchy leaves that surround the bench.

‘What do you mean, people are starting to talk?’ I feel my pulse flutter in my throat, heat making the back of my neck prickle.

‘Just . . . you know. Gossip.’ Jess looks over to where Daisy spins on the roundabout, making sure her charge is safe and in her eye line. ‘It’s like the McCanns . . . Fran and Dominic are successful, wealthy . . . they’re going to be judged. Dominic wasn’t where he said he would be that night . . . things like that. People like to have someone to blame, someone to pin things on. It makes life feel safer for themselves . . . like, if they have someone to blame, then bad things can’t happen to them.’

‘I’m not sure that Fran and Dominic would see it that way.’ I get to my feet, pushing away the thoughts that jostle at the back of my mind. Dominic, not where he promised to be, with no explanation. Dominic, violent and aggressive, not the man I thought I knew. ‘I should probably head back.’

‘I didn’t mean to upset you – I just thought you should know. About the psychic. And, you know . . .’ Jess gives a little shrug, her brow creasing in distress.

‘It’s fine. I guess we should have expected it, but I think we all thought Laurel would be home by now, or that someone would have been arrested and charged for it at the very least.’ I don’t want to think about what would happen if someone was arrested and charged but Laurel didn’t come home safely. ‘It’s been over two weeks.’ My throat closes over, and I swallow back the painful lump that rises. ‘I really do have to go.’

I hurry away from the park without looking back. Three weeks ago, I would have been meeting Jess with Laurel by my side, giving Fran a precious few hours to go over her lines. It feels strange to be here without her. I mull over Jess’s words as I walk along the damp streets, stepping over puddles left by yesterday’s rain, so lost in my own thoughts that I don’t even realise there is anyone else nearby until I crash into them.