‘Down the street a bit,’ she said from the stove where their eggs were cooking, indicating a left turn out the door with her thumb.

Mum and Alan were laughing at something in a magazine, so James left the milk bar and turned up the laneway where a sign pointed into the public toilets.

Standing inside the only cubicle by a small urinal, James could hear the sounds of a big vehicle coming to a stop, a slammed door and heavy boots approaching. Pants were unzipped and the obligatory noises came from what sounded like a large man.

James zipped up, opened the door, and looked at the craggy-faced bloke as he passed. Outside, he strolled along the length of the huge trailer and looked back towards the milk bar, where his brother would be all smiles, and their mother on Alan’s side for the rest of the day.

Beck spent the first hour imagining Jamie was just sulking in a shop somewhere along the Kippen main street, probably watching her panic and laughing about it. But when Daniel pulled up outside the milk bar in his work car after another hour with no sign of Jamie, she knew they had a serious problem.

He sauntered in with no idea who’d been reported as missing and winked at the young woman behind the counter.

‘They turned up yet?’

The waitress shook her head.

‘Tourists, is it?’ he said. The waitress shook her head and looked at Daniel like he was stupid. ‘Where’s the mother?’ he added, changing tack by flipping open a notebook.

‘I’m over here,’ Beck said from the booth, hidden by high racks of bagged sweets.

Alan was slumped in his seat, back to his father, annoyed at having been made to search the street and the car park for his brother, so it wasn’t until Daniel rounded the corner of the counter that he recognised his family.

‘It’s Jamie who’s missing,’ she said.

Daniel’s response seemed to ripple up through his legs. He stopped moving, sighed and shook his head. ‘Sure he’s not just fooling around?’

‘We’ve searched,’ she said, biting out the words. She would take no accusations this time.

Daniel ignored her and addressed Alan. ‘Hey boyo, wanna ride in the car?’

He passed between his parents and made for the front seat of the police vehicle.

‘I’ll go question a few of the shop owners. You can wait here, or in the car. Whatever you like,’ he told her, before turning to the woman at the counter. ‘Make me a coffee would you, Love? I reckon by the time you’ve got it ready, we’ll have found him.’

Beck knew Daniel was pointing the finger right at her during the short drive from the milk bar to the police station, but she wouldn’t take it.