‘No, let’s wait until we’re all here,’ Sonja said, topping up her wineglass.

When he reached the upper landing, he walked up to the closed bathroom door and listened to the sound of running water coming from inside.

Was this in fact what had caused his concern? He hadn’t considered it before, but even so he didn’t feel surprised in the slightest. The shower was on, but the sound of it made the floor vanish from underneath him.

Was it his fault? Had he pushed too hard? Or had Theodor been right, was it too late? Unanswerable questions bombarded him while he dug a coin out of his pocket and with trembling hands managed to turn the lock and open the bathroom door. Maybe they should have taken Sonja’s advice and pretended nothing had happened.

Freezing cold water that hadn’t made it down the half-clogged drain and had instead overflowed and flooded the bathroom floor soaked his socks. But that was the least of his concerns as he stuck his head in the jet, turned the tap off and hurried over to the open window.

It was too long a drop to jump. Theodor had probably shimmied down the drainpipe right next to the window. Where he’d gone after that was, however, a question with virtually endless possible answers.

The door to the garden shed stood ajar, which suggested he’d taken his bike. Which in turn meant he’d already made it far enough that it would be hard to find him if he didn’t want to be found. That insight drained his legs of strength and he had to lean against the washbasin not to lose his balance.

But this wasn’t the time to fall apart. That was the last thing he could afford to do right now. With each minute that slipped through his fingers, his son got another third of a mile away. Grief and soul-searching would have to wait if he wanted to have any chance at all.

He hurried out of the bathroom and down the stairs. ‘Theo’s run away,’ he called out to the others. ‘You’ll have to eat without me. I’ll call when I know anything.’ Sonja shouted something after him, but he didn’t have time to hear what it was before he was out of the door and on his way across the street.

His hands were shaking so hard he had to use both to get the key into the ignition and turn it, still without any clue as to which direction to go.

Theodor had no friends he could just pedal over to without warning. Sadly, he only seemed to have made one good friend since they moved here. In other words, there was no point wasting time in their own neighbourhood or the area around the school.