Kat watches until her mum disappears down one of the residential streets, heading for Clapham Junction and her festive family night out. Part of her aches to be walking next to her, then sitting in the Palladium and having her head filled with frivolous entertainment. But she can’t miss this chance to be with Beth. She checks her watch, then picks up a pad and pen and walks over to the display shelves. Sally had asked her to do a quick stocktake before she finished for the day and it’s good to have something mundane to concentrate on. As she’s noting down the eight packets of Pet Munchies salmon bites, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She fishes it out and reads the message that has lit up on her screen.

Hi Kat, don’t need you tonight after all.

Friend walking Luna for me. Thx Beth

Kat grips the phone. Rage jerks through her like a lightning strike. It’s there, then gone, but it leaves her breathless. She’s given up a night with her mum to help Beth out, she risked her own safety confronting Beth’s stalker last night, and now she’s being dismissed like she’s staff? Kat pulls at the collar of her shirt. The stench of buffalo chews and rabbits’ ears fills her nostrils.

She grabs her parka, then flings open the front door. It’s freezing outside, and she lets the icy air cool her cheeks as she pauses for a moment to catch up with the thoughts swirling around her head. She thinks about Beth’s text. Friend walking Luna for me. She bets it’s Saskia, the woman who wrote that MyNeighbour post. She lives across the street too, something Kat discovered when she dropped the Groom & Bloom leaflet through Beth’s letterbox, recognising her from the photos she found on the internet. And of course a woman like that would want to get involved, act the saviour, muscle her way further into Beth’s life.

Kat flicks her hood over her head and zips it up to her chin, enjoying the sense of anonymity it creates. Then she walks up the hill, just shy of Beth’s house, and slips down the next residential street where she still has a good view. She doesn’t have to wait long to be proved right. At six o’clock Saskia leaves her house and knocks on Beth’s door. Long blonde hair in a high ponytail and wellies adorned with pink and yellow flowers. An English rose, punctuated with thorns. Beth’s younger daughter appears at the door holding Luna on a lead. Kat wishes it was Beth, just that one fix would help, but she won’t even reward her with that.