She took a breath, steeled herself, closed the front door and walked into her daughter’s room. Valerie was passed out cold, the radio on, and beside her on the bed was a notepad. Maisie picked it up. She’d written down the updated reports she’d been listening to. Maisie read the descriptions of the boys, what they were wearing, the appeal for witnesses in Valerie’s neat handwriting and traced her fingers over their names. Just under it Valerie had written Jeremy’s name three times and circled each one, linked them and joined them up to a big question mark: Where are you, Jeremy? In the corner of the page she’d sketched a broken heart. Maisie kissed her sleeping daughter on the forehead, placed the notepad back beside her on the bed and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, watching her child, until Fred escorted her to her bed.

10 p.m. to 11 p.m., 1 January 1995

Jeremy

Rave wove the bike slowly and unsteadily through the village, which was empty except for one or two fellow lost souls making their way around in the rain. He narrowly avoided more than one tree as he left the park. He cycled through two sets of lights, and even though the streets were all but empty, Jeremy was nervous. He sat straight up, facing the onslaught of rain and cold, arms folded tightly across his chest. It’s cool, Jeremy. Stop being such a sap. Just enjoy this. It’s an adventure. Dave would sell his ma to be on the back of this bike. Just relax, you asshole. He couldn’t relax, though: something was wrong with his best friend and Jeremy wished he’d say something. The holidays had been tough on Rave. Jeremy had begged him to come to theirs for Christmas Day but he’d refused. ‘I’d feel like a thick,’ he’d said.

‘Why?’

‘It’s your family, Beany. I just don’t wanna be a spare man.’

‘But you’re not spare in my house,’ Jeremy said.

‘That’s nice of you to say.’

‘It’s the truth. We all love you, man.’

‘Shut up.’

‘We do.’

‘I’m a big boy, Beany. I can take care of myself, all right?’

Whenever Rave said ‘all right’ at the end of a sentence it meant the conversation was over.