Nothing in reply. He walks into the house. Takes a couple of tentative steps towards the stairs. Before he calls to her again there’s a strangled cry from Edie. He runs up the stairs and follows the noise, turns right at the top, then goes along to a room at the end.

Edie is crouched on the floor.

‘Is everything okay?’

She whips her head around. Tears streak her face. He sees then that her mother is lying on the floor, half-concealed by Edie. ‘Go away,’ she snaps, swiping angrily at her tears. ‘Leave us alone.’

But he steps closer. Looks down at Eleanor Davenport. Her head lolls to one side. Her eyes are open but out of focus. Her chin is wet with vomit. There’s a pool of it on the floor beside her. The stench hits the back of his throat and he gags. When he turns his head away he sees the bottle of whisky on the bedside table next to a brown medicine bottle, lid off, lying on its side with a couple of pills spilled out.

He steps closer. Slowly. Then kneels beside Edie and rests his fingers against Eleanor Davenport’s neck. She’s alive. Breathing easily. Her eyes focus on him. She slurs something unintelligible.

Edie sobs.

‘What’s she had?’ he asks Edie.

Edie lowers her head. ‘Whisky,’ she says softly. ‘About half the bottle. Those are Valium. Not that many are gone. I counted them. Maybe one or two. The Xanax hasn’t been touched. It’s still in the bathroom cabinet. She’s just drunk.’ She shrugs helplessly. ‘She gets like this. She doesn’t know when to stop.’

‘We should call an ambulance.’

‘No!’ Edie says. ‘No. She won’t want us to. Please. I’ll sit with her. She’s done it before. Loads of times. She’s just fallen asleep. That’s all.’

He hesitates but then nods. ‘We should clean her up.’

‘No,’ she says, almost too quietly to hear. ‘I’ll do it. You don’t need to help.’

He stands, grabs the glass from beside the bed, and goes to the bathroom. He turns the tap on and rinses the glass, then fills it with water. He takes a towel off the rail and holds it under the stream of water to wet it. Then he carries both back into the bedroom.

‘Take off her top,’ he says gently. ‘It’s dirty.’

Edie nods. She won’t look him in the eye. As she eases her mother’s top off she chews her bottom lip repeatedly. Eleanor complains. Tries to smack her away. Calls her a bitch then vomits again. He passes Edie the towel and she wipes her up. He returns to the bathroom for a fresh one, wets it as before, then returns to Edie and holds it out to her.