‘Yes, Cora definitely hurt Lily that morning in the queue for ice cream. I couldn’t tell if it was on purpose, but she hurt her all right.’

Another pause as Della’s sister responded.

‘She’s desperate for affection, I suppose, and that can warp you. Right, we’d better get back out there. I’ll ring you later. Bye now, bye.’

Her mother put her head around Fran’s bedroom door, coming nose to nose with her daughter.

‘Oh. Are you ready?’

‘Mam, did you see Cora hurting Lily?’

Della put her hand to her cheek.

‘Ah. Look, I don’t know if it was on purpose. But it happened more than once. I’m certain it has nothing to do with today, but it’s bothering me now.’

‘It’s just … the day of the party in their garden – the paddling pool … I saw something too.’

Fran followed Della, as they pushed forward through the building site.

‘Lily!’ she shouted, along with the rest of them. ‘Come out now, the game’s over!’ In the distance, she could see Mary Murphy and Ruth Cavanagh going into one of the houses and she was relieved they were too far away to see her. What do you say to someone whose child is missing?

She followed Della towards another of the half-built houses and they paused a few feet from the doorway, scanning the outside. Scaffolding hugged unfinished walls and a wooden walkway circled the perimeter, just above the yawning downstairs windows. They moved inside. The concrete floors were cool and dusty, littered with sandbags and sandwich wrappers. Fran shivered.

‘Lily!’ Della called, as they walked through to another empty room. ‘She’s not here,’ she said to Fran. ‘Let’s try the next house.’

‘Could she be upstairs?’

They both looked up.

‘There’s no stairs yet,’ Della said. ‘She wouldn’t have been able to get up there. Come on.’

The next house was the same – high scaffolding, dark windows, empty rooms, no stairs.

From all directions, voices echoed, calling Lily’s name. In the distance, Robbie emerged from the shortcut through the woods. Fran watched as he put one hand to his eyes, scanning. Then she noticed his other arm.

‘Mam, Robbie’s got his arm in a sling – do you know what happened?’

Della pursed her lips. ‘No.’ She looked like she was going to say something else but decided against it.

‘Only, I heard Zara’s dad bashing on their door around midnight last night …’

Della made a clicking sound with her tongue. ‘I knew he’d be back,’ she said, under her breath. Then, out loud: ‘Come on, less chat, more searching.’

Behind them, Cynthia moved towards a house Della had already checked, Cora trotting beside her. Fran and Della went on to search six more houses, and in the last one, they found stairs.

Fran went up first, with Della following.

At the top was a broad landing with six doorways, all empty, except the one straight ahead, which was blocked by a large wooden pallet and two blue barrels.