Jessie could hear the cold arrogance in her father’s voice as he said his name and, without thinking, she said sarcastically, ‘The name Flynn didn’t seem to do us much good last night, did it?’

Michael was almost as shocked as she was by her words. He stood up quickly. She could see the anger she had caused, but she didn’t care any more.

‘There wasn’t any burglary, Dad. No police were called either – I know that much.’

Michael didn’t answer her for a while. Then, smiling sadly, he knelt down beside her bed once more. ‘You’re nearly fifteen. When I was your age I knew a lot more than people gave me credit for. So I’ll say this, Jessie – me and your mum love you more than anything in this world, and everything we do is for you. Never forget that.’

She looked him straight in the eye as she said quietly, ‘I won’t.’

He stood up slowly. Something had changed between them, and he knew that it wasn’t for the good. ‘If I could change the last few days I would, Jessie. You know that, darling.’

She did. He would do anything for her – last night’s events proved it.

‘But you can’t, Dad. No one can.’

She saw the mask slip from her father’s face; he was still very angry, she could see that as plain as day. He looked like he was going to explode, but within seconds he was smiling at her once again. The smile that she had always coveted, that had been such a big part of her daily life.

‘What I can promise you, though, is that I will never allow anything like that to happen to you or your mum again.’

She was watching him carefully, and he sensed that she was still not convinced by his promise to keep her safe. She was so beautiful – she was Josephine all over again, from the thick hair to the arched eyebrows. It was uncanny, the striking resemblance between them. But one thing he realised now, was that she didn’t have her mother’s nature. Jessie was not as warm or forgiving as the woman who had birthed her. There was an underlying steeliness in his Jessie that was reminiscent of his mother. He could be wrong; after all, the poor girl had just been through a terrible ordeal, and he mustn’t lose sight of that. But there was something else going on here, he could feel it. He bent down and kissed his daughter lightly on her cheek, aware that she didn’t respond.

‘You try and get some sleep.’