It was falsely pleasant inside the Hope Park unit. Yesterday, when she’d come with Patrick and the boys, the fresh paint and clean floors had masked it, but now Harper could feel the constrictive undercurrent, the echoes of the Selver General psychiatric ward: the clanging metal doors; the jangling of key chains; the smell and the occasional moan or shriek from within a locked room. However, even taking all that into account it was still vastly superior to the Selver in many ways. The staff she’d met in the Hope were upbeat, friendly and professional. The setting was beautiful, too, which made a real difference to the feel of the place.

After the routine of the secure entry procedure, Harper had been shown into a bright, clean day room and given a cup of terrible vending-machine coffee as she waited to speak to Lauren and Patrick. Over by the window, a young mother fed her baby. The woman ignored Harper, or was at least only vaguely aware of her presence. Harper smiled at her but she continued to stare at a point on the wall near a bookshelf. Harper cleared her throat, and wished there was a radio or a TV on to fill the silence.

Presently the door was opened by a uniformed nurse, who held it for Lauren and Patrick to enter, each of them pushing a single stroller in front of them containing one of the twins. Lauren’s skin was dull, her face impassive. The babies were still and silent, but when Harper glanced into the buggies they were looking directly at her.

“Hey, Morgan,” she said to the one in yellow. The baby continued to stare at her. She transferred her gaze to the one in green. “Hey, Riley.” She always ran out of things to say to babies.

“Thanks for meeting me,” said Harper, reaching out to shake Patrick’s large hand, then Lauren’s cold and bony one.

The nurse who had held open the door took a seat a short distance away, picked up a magazine and flicked through it, pausing to look up at them every few moments. Nurse, or guard, thought Harper.

“Shall we sit?” said Patrick.

Lauren lowered herself warily. Her gaze flitted around the room and landed briefly on Harper.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

Patrick sat next to Lauren on a long settee, while Harper was opposite the couple on a chair, next to the two babies in their buggies angled towards their parents. In the far corner of the room the young mother had stopped feeding her baby and was staring into space, rocking backwards and forwards, humming something tuneless. The baby had fallen asleep in her arms.