But this isn’t about him. ‘It’s not just the house,’ I say, speaking quietly because the door to the bedroom is ajar. ‘I’m worried about Angelica. She seems to be very anxious all the time.’

‘Not your concern, Dan. Thanks for bringing her home. We’ll take it from here.’

Her rudeness lets me off the hook. If I get the train now, I can be home by lunchtime. Casey and Angelica managed fine without me for twelve years. Except it doesn’t feel fine.

‘Well, Casey is only halfway through her treatment, so we need to make arrangements for how that carries on.’

Harriet picks up the glass of water on the rickety table, puts it down again. ‘They can do the other half when Angelica’s stronger.’

‘No. The doctors say Casey can only go through the process once.’

She raises her hands to massage her temples. ‘We’ll fix it somehow. You don’t need to worry about it.’ Her smile is fake, and she’s clearly trying to get me out of the door as quickly as possible.

Perhaps this bossy woman will get everything sorted out. I should be pleased that Angelica has a friend who cares enough to dislike me this much on sight.

But what about Casey? Who is sticking up for her?

‘It’s my job to worry about it. I won’t let my daughter’s medical care suffer because of this.’

Harriet scoffs. ‘Your daughter. Now isn’t that sweet? Born-again dad mansplaining parenting to a woman. You couldn’t make it up.’

I hate her. For her lazy cliché, for her mocking voice.

For the fact that she’s speaking the truth.

The easiest thing is to go with what this Harriet woman wants. And I could call Gemma on the way home, pick up where we left off. Except the first thing she’ll ask me will be: How is Casey? And I’ll have to admit I left her alone with a sick mother and neighbours who are in denial about how serious this is.

‘Listen, Harriet, if you want to spend your Saturday morning slagging me off, go ahead. But it won’t help Angelica or Casey, will it?’

‘The best way you can help them is by leaving us to sort this out.’

‘I can’t wait to get the hell out of this Village of the Damned, OK? But your help isn’t enough. Has a doctor ever seen Angelica?’

‘She’s not into conventional medicine. I downloaded a meditation app on her phone for stress and I thought she’d stopped getting herself into these . . . states.’ For the first time, doubt crosses Harriet’s face. ‘Though I haven’t seen her this bad before.’

‘Casey has got pretty good at hiding the signs from outsiders, it seems.’

Harriet bristles. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Only that she wants to protect her mum.’

‘No shit, Sherlock. But there are limits to how much you can interfere in someone else’s family.’

Except, when a kid is suffering, surely you have to step in. If someone had done that with me—