‘It’s your birthday today?’ the officer says. ‘Well happy birthday, Sky Lawson.’

‘You should have told me,’ Ted says. ‘I would have added a candle to that chocolate bar!’

‘And where are you sleeping tonight?’ Officer Hickie asks. ‘Do you have accommodation arranged?’

‘Accommodation?’ I ask, trying to buy time, but I can’t think of a single town or a single lie. ‘My mum’s friend is at a festival and I’m going to find her. I’ll stay with her in a cabin or something.’

‘And the address of the festival is?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘Her name?’ She takes out a notepad.

‘Melody Ramp.’

‘Melody. Right. Let’s get this straight, Miss Lawson. You’re sixteen years old, hitchhiking alone, on your birthday, to a festival in the “forest”’—she air quotes— ‘location unknown. You do know it’s nearly 11pm and thirty degrees out?’

‘Yes, officer,’ I say.

‘And your mother is where? At the festival too?’

‘No. She’s in Australia.’ I swallow. ‘She was. She’s not alive anymore.’

‘Sorry to hear that,’ says Officer Hickie. ‘Do you have another guardian, a father perhaps?’

‘He’s in Anchorage. I was staying with him. But now I’m on my way to Melody.’

I give her my father’s name and address, and she tells me to wait. She returns to the entrance with Officer Scott and they talk. She picks up her walkie-talkie and starts speaking into it.

‘Miss Lawson,’ she says as she returns, ‘you have two choices here. Either come with us to the station or we can call your father to pick you up right now. Unless you have another relative or legal guardian.’

‘What happens at the station?’ I ask. ‘Can I sleep the night and keep going tomorrow morning to the festival?’

She stares at me like I’m a nutter.

‘It’s not a hotel,’ Officer Scott says. ‘I’d highly recommend the other option. Have you seen a police cell before, Miss Lawson? It’s hardly the Hilton.’ He looks at Officer Hickie and stifles a chuckle. ‘Stay the night. That’s a first. We should start offering room service too.’

But Officer Hickie isn’t finding it funny. She pulls up a chair next to me and leans close. ‘Unless you would like to make a complaint against someone, Sky. Would you like to talk to me in private? If you’re in trouble, someone tried to hurt you …’ She puts her hand on my arm. ‘We can talk.’

‘No,’ I say. ‘It’s okay. I just had a fight with my father, but I’ll call him now.’

She watches as I pick up my phone.

‘Put it on loud speaker, please,’ Officer Scott says.

My father answers after one ring.

‘It’s me,’ I say.

‘Oh my God, Sky, I’m so relieved to hear your voice. Are you okay? Where are you?’

‘I’m fine.’