‘Do you know anything about a video recording that Elizabeth might have made?’

Wendy couldn’t hide the surprise on her face. ‘How do you know about that?’

Steph shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter, but you’ve answered my question anyway.’

‘Don’t waste your time looking for any recording,’ said Wendy, pre-empting Steph’s next question. ‘All I can say is, if there was a recording, it was probably destroyed. I’m sure the Sinclairs wouldn’t have left anything like that lying around.’

Steph felt deflated. The one thing that she was sure held the key to the truth no longer existed. ‘Are you just saying that?’

‘No. I know for a fact. You’re living in cloud cuckoo land if you think you’ll find anything.’

Steph stopped and looked at her mother as a sudden bolt of realisation hit her. She jumped up from her chair. ‘Thank you, Mum,’ she said, a broad grin spreading across her face.

‘Thank me for what?’

‘Cloud cuckoo land – you’re a genius.’

Wendy shook her head. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’ve got to go. I need to check something out.’ She could barely contain her excitement. There was still a chance of finding that recording.

Conmere, Thursday, 16 May, 4.15 p.m.

Safely in her room, with the door locked, Steph took out her laptop and switched it on. As soon as it sprang to life, she went onto the camera shop’s website and after a bit of searching found the link for their SpyCloud. She typed in Elizabeth’s email address from the information Sonia had given her when they’d first met. It then asked for the four-digit PIN. Steph checked the notebook and input the numbers written in red alongside the camera shop’s phone number – 2206. It made sense now: it was Elizabeth’s birthday, 22 June. Holding her breath, she pressed the enter key and waited. The egg timer appeared on the screen for a few seconds and then the screen went white and three movie icons appeared in front of her.

She was in.

They were labelled Diary Entry One, Diary Entry Two and Diary Entry Three, all in movie format. Steph clicked on the first one.