She makes her way through to the utility room and sees that the dripping has stopped. She opens the chest freezer and its light shines out into the dingy room, illuminating frozen rabbit meat and polythene bags of vegetables. She slides the Ziploc bag behind an old box of raspberry ripple ice cream, something her father does not enjoy, and closes the freezer lid. She promises herself that when the bullying stops, she will take the bag out to thaw and bury it with a releasing spell. In the meantime, the freezing must happen.

Close to ten o’ clock, long after Lauren has fallen fast asleep once more, the doorbell rings, startling Niall on the sofa. It’s the police again. Today, they searched the woods and are examining a dilapidated house, after a tip-off from a young member of the public who came across a secret annexe. Diane, Kirsty told him, has put something on social media that has been shared thousands of times. Niall only has a vague idea of what this really means. The police are interviewing a man found on the premises and have found human remains. The words don’t click into place. He clings on to fragments of sentences. Female. They were fast-tracked to a lab. He wonders if Angela and Malcolm know.

The police pause. ‘And we’re sorry to bother you so late, but we’re working against the clock and wanted to talk to you before anyone else, reporters and the like, do.’ Their voices are smoothed out, softened.

‘OK, sure,’ says Niall, trying to figure out what they are getting at.

They tell him that the DNA does not match Ann-Marie’s DNA and the search for Ann-Marie must continue. He breathes out.

The DNA, they continue, matches with Christine Mackay, his wife. He tries to understand but his brain has slowed. He goes to the kitchen and eyes four fingers of whisky in the bottle under the sink. He pours a glass.

‘Niall, if we may …’ The policeman’s voice reminds him of laminate flooring, flat and colourless. ‘Our forensic team found the remains – bones, to be precise – of your wife Christine, deep underground. We had her DNA on file and it is an exact match. Therefore, her status has changed from that of a missing person to deceased. We are sorry to tell you that her skull suffered trauma.’

‘She was wearing a blue dress that day.’