Sara gave a strangled laugh. ‘No, you wouldn’t want to be doing that.’ She pointed to the road. ‘My bag’s in the car, I’ll just go and get it, see if there’s anything in there.’

She hurried away, coming back a few minutes later with a reminder for a smear test, the only document she could find in her handbag with her address on it. He glanced at it, handed it back, his eyes not meeting hers.

‘Sorry, but I had to ask,’ he said. ‘Okay, I’ll crack on, shouldn’t take too long. I suppose you want high-security standard?’

Sara nodded. ‘Absolutely.’

They watched him walk back to his van, and Hailey gave Sara’s shoulder a gentle punch. ‘Nice work, sis. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that.’

Sara could hear her teeth grinding and stretched her jaw, massaging the aching muscles. ‘It’s as much my house as Matt’s, and now I know what he’s been doing, I don’t see why he should assume possession. I need to be here for the children. This is their home, and this is where we’re going to be.’ She took a deep breath, emotion swelling in her chest, threatening to choke her words. ‘He’s not coming back into my family. Not after this.’

She looked at the office, wisps of smoke still wafting out of the door.

‘I suppose all the evidence has been destroyed?’

Hailey puffed out her cheeks as she followed Sara’s gaze. ‘I don’t know. Sometimes they can get information off damaged computers. Just depends how bad it is.’ Her expression wasn’t hopeful, though, and Sara wondered if they really were getting anywhere, or whether they had already lost the battle.

They went to assess the damage, standing in the doorway as they scanned the room. The edge of one computer screen had melted, making it look like something out of a Salvador Dali painting; the desk it was sitting on was blackened, and the hard drive standing underneath had become a deformed skeleton, a mere remnant of its former self.

‘I wish I understood how these things worked from a technical point of view,’ Sara said, glancing at Hailey. ‘If the hard drive is ruined, does that mean all the information stored on there has gone, or does it still exist on the internet?’

Hailey’s fingers rubbed at her lips as she thought. ‘Don’t you think he’ll have a backup?’