Theo shrugs. What does he actually do? He’s never been sure. ‘I’ve always assumed he’s like my dad’s security. He comes to the house now and again. Assesses the burglar alarms. Gives Dad advice, that kind of thing. My dad’s a wealthy man. Successful in his field.’

‘Well. Glen Davies is a fucking bully, that’s what he is,’ says Laura. No: Lorna. He’s sure her name is Lorna. ‘He broke into the house when my daughter had to go to the hospital. It’s like he was waiting outside, waiting for us to leave. All of this.’ She stands up and paces the room, throwing her arms wide. Theo watches her, mesmerized. There is something very familiar about her. Like he’s met her before but he can’t think where. ‘It has to have something to do with your father. And those photos . . .’ She stops and rounds on Theo, holding out her hand. ‘Can I see them?’

He does as she asks. They all watch expectantly as she flips through them. Then she makes a growling sound of frustration and passes the phone back to him. ‘I don’t recognize anyone. I was hoping my mother would be there.’

‘I’ve already looked,’ says Saffron.

‘I know. I just wanted to see.’ Lorna throws her daughter an apologetic smile and Theo feels a pang of longing for his own mother.

He takes back his phone. He feels Lorna’s frustration. ‘Can you remember anything else Glen asked you? That night when he . . . grabbed you?’

‘Just about the evidence. That was it. Oh, and he threatened me, said he’d hurt me, or Saffy . . .’ she flinches ‘. . . if I told the police.’

Theo swallows, trying to quell the panic growing inside him. Has his father got something to do with the murders that took place here? Maybe he’s on the wrong track with the folder of women. Unless they’re victims of his.

‘I think my mum was running away from someone. A woman who knew her back then remembers her as being jittery and secretive, and she was apparently pregnant when she first arrived here,’ says Lorna, sitting down again. She fizzes with nervous energy, like a firework that’s about to go off.

‘And you think she was running from my dad?’

Lorna glances towards her daughter, then back to Theo. ‘I’m beginning to think so now. My mum was always so cagey about my dad. She said his name was “William” but never showed me photos, never talked about him. It was like she wanted to forget him.’

Theo thinks of Cynthia Parsons. Was Rose a victim of his too? An ex who was running away from him because she was scared? An ex who was pregnant?