God bless Julianne’s reliability. I call the number and a young guy with a cracking, adolescent voice answers.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi … Freddy? This is Lorna. Liberty’s mother.’

‘Oh.’ A long pause. ‘Liberty told me about you.’

He means ‘warned’ of course. I take the bullet.

‘Listen, Freddy. Liberty has gone. She ran away this morning.’

More silence.

‘Do you know where she might have gone?’

Freddy doesn’t answer, but I hear him breathing.

I try for a softer approach: ‘How do you and Liberty know each other anyway? She doesn’t tell me about her friends.’

‘We’re neighbours,’ says Freddy, in a voice that conveys both surprise and teenage contempt for the utter stupidity of adults.

‘We are?’

‘Yes.’

‘I can’t see the street from our house. I guess … I’ve never noticed you.’

‘I’m the brown guy.’

‘So?’

‘Well … I stand out around here, is what I’m saying.’

‘You’re in a band with Liberty?’

A pause. ‘Yes.’

‘And there’s another person in the band? Abi, right?’

‘Yes. Abi.’

‘Could she be with her?’

‘I mean … probably not.’

‘How do you know?’

Another long silence.

‘Do you know where she is?’ I feel a horrible pang as the mother-daughter elastic band of closeness snaps completely. This complete stranger knows more about my daughter’s whereabouts than I do. ‘Please, Freddy. Please, please tell me if you do. I can’t look after her if I don’t know where she is.’

More silence.

A horrible chill runs through my stomach.

‘Has she gone to see her father, Freddy?’ I ask. ‘Is that where she’s gone?’

A long pause.

‘Um …’

‘Please tell me. Please. If you don’t, I’ll have to send the police around your house and—’

‘Yes. Okay, Miss Miller. Okay. Liberty’s gone to her father’s house. So there’s no need to worry. She’s been planning the visit for a while.’

‘No need to worry!’ I scream the words.

One of us hangs up, I’m not sure who. And I’m running to the garage, hunting in my pocket for van keys. It’s only when I jump into the driver’s seat that I realize I’m about to drive somewhere I swore I’d never go back to. A place where my worst nightmares came true.

This really is happening. Liberty has fallen right into Michael’s spiderweb and I’m hurling myself into the sticky silk after her.

Until now, I could have pretended. Maybe Liberty was with friends. Maybe she’d gone jogging around the neighbourhood just to scare the life out of me. Maybe, maybe …

I swallow down fear and self-loathing as I start the van.

I’ve always hated being this controlling monster. The woman who watches her daughter’s every move. Spies on her. I’ve tried to keep Liberty safe, but it hasn’t worked. I built tall fences but he got her in the end.