Coffees in hand, the three stood, looking through the open door like it was something in a gallery. It looked as if someone had just walked out. Or maybe it looked like Heidi could be sitting somewhere they couldn’t see her. There were clothes on the floor, shoes scattered. It was a mess, but the bed was made – they all made their beds. Making your bed was what sober people did after they got up so that they didn’t go back to bed and hide there for days and days. Dell looked behind the door. The winter jacket she and Heidi had bought from work with their first paycheck after rehab wasn’t there – maybe it had never been there. Maybe Heidi was wearing it when she first left.

The three of them realised almost telepathically and in unison how stupid the idea was. No one had any idea what she’d taken with her on the first day. Not really. Dell and Heidi had lots of clothes and Dell didn’t wear them all very often. They all found ways to share. Peggy and Greta had way less clothes than Dell and Heidi, but even they found a way to clothe themselves with their meagre wardrobe.

‘Is anything missing?’ Peggy asked, hopefully.

Dell shrugged.

‘Have you missed anything since she’s been gone?’

‘Not overly,’ Dell said. Dell and Heidi had a lot of clothes.

‘Make-up!’ Greta said.

It was a good idea, because although Heidi and Dell also had lots of make-up, Dell would have done her face that morning for work and maybe she could figure out if Heidi had taken anything during the day.

Dell went to the bedroom and looked at the set of drawers covered in socks, underwear and mail. She picked up the lipsticks and compacts that were there. ‘I take most of it to work.’ She put everything back down.

They were all in the room now. Greta started picking up clothes, folding them and placing them on the mattress Dell and Heidi had on the floor. Dell flicked through the papers beside the mattress. Peggy sort of moved the shoes at the end of the mattress with her feet. There was a poster of Björk on the wall. Heidi and Dell had tried, but they’d never really moved in, and then Ian had come along. Some people they talked to about it said they needed to detach with love. That Heidi was a grown-up. They all were. Sometimes, Peggy and Greta wondered if it was all about the intrigue, if they didn’t really care about Heidi or Dell and just wanted to know what was going on.