‘I know. A massively delicate moment here, though, and you can’t turn it upside down. I’ll have you carried away if you insist. I’m sorry. Really.’

Anna believed that last statement, but it meant nothing. ‘No, I have to see him. I have to know he’s okay.’

‘And I don’t know yet if he is.’

That was the reason? Anna grabbed Miller’s arms in both of hers. ‘I expected to see him dead, do you understand? Anything is better than that. I don’t care how messed up he is. He’s alive. You need to see my happy face, don’t you?’

‘As a child, dear, I bet you got your way all the time.’ Miller turned and walked away. Anna took it as permission and followed. They passed through the double doors, into a reception area where four or five officers hung about behind a counter and a thug in a shell suit was being asked officially if he was likely to harm himself while here. Bennet must have already explained why they were here because one of the officers led them onwards without a word. A door later they entered what looked a little like a corridor of lockers, although a sign above the entrance had said ‘Cells 01–14’. They stopped at a door with another officer outside and Anna pushed ahead of Miller to peek through the big square vision panel.

The bed Nick sat on was nothing but a blue mat, like something from a school gym, on a low shelf along one wall. He wore plain blue tracksuit bottoms and a white T-shirt bearing a picture of Peppa Pig under a speech balloon that said ‘GREATEST DADDY’. His feet were bare. His hair, much shorter than in the picture on the fridge, was matted with blood that also stained the left side of his hairless face and one arm of the T-shirt, and his arms were grimy with dirt. He was swaying side-to-side, eyes closed. Under the influence of drugs, they’d said. She thought he looked like the survivor of a natural disaster.

But he was moving, and breathing, and because of it he looked beautiful, perfect. She put her head against the door and closed her eyes.

‘He didn’t take any clothing. They’re his pyjamas.’

But the happy moment was gone the next instant, because Josie was still missing. She tried to open the heavy door, but all four police officers grabbed her. Three had forceful words, but Miller’s soothing tone cut through it all. Before Nick was ripped from her view, she saw his face turn to the door. One eye opened and seemed to stare at her. The other was welded shut by dried blood.

‘Who the hell are you?’ he shouted. The effort seemed to drain him, and he fell back against the wall.