When Niall tries to think back there are blank spaces. Ann-Marie is now missing. A blank space. ‘A woolly hat.’

‘We are searching the woods to see if we can find her. A bit about you then. What is your relationship with Ann-Marie?’

‘Relationship? How do you mean?’ The room feels unsteady.

‘Describe your relationship with Ann-Marie.’

‘She’s my neighbour’s kid.’ Again, he makes sure to sound reasonable, helpful.

‘OK. And did you see her often?’

‘No.’ He looks towards the window like some kind of escape route.

‘When was the last time you saw her? Before the supermarket.’

‘It was just the Spar. I canna mind, y’know. Maybe in the summer.’

‘She’s your neighbour’s kid and that was the last time you saw her?’

‘She’s at that school in Edinburgh. No. Hang on. I last seen her when she was looking after my kid, Lauren, and Ann-Marie took her back to hers. I was playing a ceilidh that night.’

‘When did Ann-Marie babysit your daughter?’ Their eyes are so trained on him that they stop his own gaze from wandering.

‘The other night,’ Niall says.

‘Specifically.’

‘I’ll have to check. Last Tuesday I think it was. Ceilidh up at the castle.’ He scratches the hair on his forearm.

‘So, back to last night, she got into your car and then what?’

‘I dropped her off home.’

‘Did you see her parents?’

Niall feels an itch of impatience. ‘No.’ The truth is he can’t remember the events in sequence very well. He stopped earlier than he should have. He got angry.

He goes through as many details as he can, all the time wondering how he sounds to them. They thank him for his time, without emotion, and when they shut the door, he remembers he did not drive her all the way home. There was the passing place. He remembers watching the ice blue of her anorak disappear in the rear-view mirror. He has failed, again. He goes to the cupboard and pours himself a large vodka, and then another.

Back when Christine lived in the house, his friends would tell him privately, when they were drunk enough, that she was out of her tree. Her strange, bright clothes and hair that frequently changed colour. Silver rings and a bar in her ear. A nose stud. She may well have been beamed in from the Starship Enterprise. There were men who fancied her too; he knew that. Fascinated by her, or the idea of her, at least. Thought she was up to something kinky in the bedroom and they were almost right.