‘It’s fine if you don’t want to draw,’ Martin said. ‘You don’t have to do anything here you don’t want to.’

From her face, Elena blew a strand of hair that had come away from her plait. ‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said, going to the bed and pushing the sleeve of Anouk’s nightshirt up to the elbow. Indifferent to what was going on, the girl allowed her to do it. Martin could see a thin plaster above the left wrist.

‘She tried to stab herself in the forearm with the pencil.’

Left forearm. So she’s right-handed, Martin thought, making a mental note.

‘Thank God I’d only just popped into the bathroom.’ With her chin Elena indicated an almost invisible door in the wall beside the bed. ‘To get some water for her tablets. I came back and saw Anouk harming herself.’

‘Did you stab or scratch yourself?’

Once again he directed his question to the girl. Once again he got no response.

‘Hard to say,’ was Elena’s attempt at an explanation. ‘She was holding the pencil like a knife, it was more of a level movement.’

To cut out the pain?

Martin shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for a diagnosis. The key thing now was to win Anouk’s trust.

‘I’m actually only here to test the button,’ Martin said, pointing to the power strip behind her bed. ‘This is a worry button. You can press it any time you feel worried or need help. Okay?’

She blinked, but Martin didn’t take this as a sign of understanding. And yet it was absolutely vital that this initial phase of trust-building was successful. Anouk had to know that her situation had changed for the better and that she wasn’t on her own here any longer, not at any time, not even when there was nobody else in her cabin.

‘Shall we try it out?’ Martin said.

Elena nodded to him when he put his hand on the red alarm button on the power strip behind Anouk’s hospital bed.

‘It doesn’t matter whether you’re frightened, in pain, feel sad or just want to talk to someone, you only have to press this and…’

Martin pushed the button, it made an audible click and almost immediately Elena’s mobile rang, which was in a belt pouch tied around her black trousers.

Anouk flinched and pulled her legs up tighter to her bent-forwards torso.

‘Don’t worry, darling,’ Elena said, stroking her hair tenderly. ‘I told you about this before. The alarm activates my mobile. When it rings I’ll come straight to you, any time day or night.’

‘All you have to do it press the worry button above your bed,’ Martin added. ‘It works just as you saw.’ Martin gave Elena a sign to go. He wouldn’t be able to achieve any more at the moment.