Minutes passed, then Jack came into view. Against the light coming from the back of the house I couldn’t see his face clearly, but he didn’t look as though he had been drugged or hypnotised, nor did he even appear to be particularly forlorn. He seemed calm, with Jack the cat rubbing and twisting round his ankles like a plush cushion on legs.

‘Mum, what do you want?’

‘To talk to you. Don’t make me do it through this slot.’

‘I want to stay here because Audrey and me are both unhappy about the cub dying, and you’re not bothered, are you? What else would I be doing today anyway?’

‘You’d be at home. Where you belong, with me and Lo. And I’m sorry the cub got run over too. I’m just less sad than I would have been … oh, if something bad had happened to you, or Lola, or Dad.’

Lola had come in very late and gone out early. I told her that Jack had insisted on staying at Audrey’s. ‘Then let him,’ she said.

Jack stood on one leg to allow the cat more twining space. ‘You’ve got to go to work, haven’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I admitted. There was always that pressure.

‘I’m staying here,’ he repeated.

I considered the situation. There wasn’t anything I could do, for the time being, short of breaking the door down. The paintwork wasn’t in good shape, but the door itself was heavy and the lock and hinges were sound enough. Jack was apparently well and comfortable, and probably enjoying the sense of power that defiance gave him.

‘All right. See you later.’

I marched down the path and back to where I had parked the car. It took me nearly an hour to reach the Works. A truck had shed its load at the Highbury roundabout and the resultant chaos had added to the usual congestion, so the streets for miles around were set solid. When I finally slammed across the yard I saw out of the corner of my eye the lacy and ruffled hem of a skirt and the curled toe of a babouche slipper. When I looked, there was Evelyn sitting sunning herself with her long fingers wrapped round a glass of orange juice. Her hair tumbled prettily round her face.

‘Hi, Sadie.’ She sighed in her soft voice. ‘How’re you doing? Everything sweet?’

A familiar one-legged teddy bear and some crayons and paper were lying on the bench beside her.

‘You’re back,’ I said unnecessarily. I was already tending towards the house door, hungry for the sight of Cassie.

‘Last night.’

‘And Cassie?’

‘Yes.’

There she was, in her booster chair at the kitchen table, squeezing raisins between her fat fingers as if she had never been away. Her face turned towards me like a flower. ‘Sadie-lady!’