‘And what does Mum know about it all?’ Jaz looked as bewildered as me.

There were so many questions and so many unknowns. Within those, I was certain of one thing. I’d missed Dad with a ferocious intensity. If he was still alive, after Józef’s funeral a year ago, I wanted to see him.

At the back of my mind, I was aware that I had a case to solve and was due to meet Dan in a couple of hours. Whatever the consequences, I was going to find my father, and that meant doing something I should’ve done a long time ago. I had just enough time to do it now. ‘We’ve never known what Mum knew,’ I said. ‘I’m about to go and see her, so perhaps we will finally find out.’

Maya, 10 p.m.

Maya, 10 p.m.

When I arrived at the Woodside residential home, visiting hours were over. I wasn’t meeting Dan for a couple of hours and I wanted to show Mum Suzie’s photos.

The duty manager was in the office with a couple of the care assistants, enjoying a rare quiet moment. ‘Hi, Maya,’ he said. ‘Go through. She’s still up.’

Suddenly I was aware that I hadn’t had time to wash the streets from my hair and clothes, and buy some flowers. Today, the dread which usually tugged at me when I approached Mum’s room had been eclipsed by a bubbling determination to find out from Mum what she knew about Dad’s disappearance. Tucked in my bag were copies of some of Suzie’s photos, and the print-out from the forensic services laboratory that I’d been carrying around for the last few days. Would I tell her about all of it? Best to play it by ear, depending on how she was.

I knocked, and pushed the door open. A blast of warm air hit me. ‘Hi, Mum,’ I said gently.

She was sitting in the armchair beside her bed, watching the news on TV.

‘Keeping up with what’s going on?’ If she was watching the news, it was often a good barometer of how she was feeling.

‘It’s that shop, Jasmina. I’m sure it’s the old bagel shop.’ She fixed milky green eyes on me.

‘Yes, it is.’ I tried not to wince. ‘It’s me, Mum. Maya.’

Her attention was back on the television.

‘The police are investigating the fatal shooting of a ten-year-old boy in a Mile End squat earlier today,’ the news reporter said.

‘Shall I switch that off, Mum?’

‘I’m watching it.’

‘ . . . appealing for information from anyone who was near the notorious Ocean Estate . . . ’

‘I saw your sister on the telly yesterday. Have you seen her lately?’