‘Lumin has a frontal lobe injury,’ Jen explains. ‘The regaining of memory can be sporadic. Sometimes long-term memories will return – which is what these sound like – but short-term memories take longer. There’s a good chance the memories Lumin described are from several years ago. Possibly one specific event, a significant event,’ she adds with a worried glance towards Lumin.

‘How long could it be before she regains her full memory?’ Detective Matthews asks.

‘You’re better off speaking to Doctor Rashad about this,’ Jen says. ‘But a few days. In rare cases, months.’

Lumin’s eyes widen and Amber smiles softly at her. ‘She said in rare cases.’

‘We can call you as soon as any significant memories resurface,’ Jen says.

Detective King nods, snapping his notepad shut. ‘Please do. In the meantime, we’ll do a search on the missing persons database. Lumin is a very rare name, if that is indeed your name,’ he adds. ‘It’s bound to turn something up. If it turns nothing up, I recommend we take some DNA samples. It would be useful to talk to Doctor Rashad now, then we’d like to chat to you, Miss Caulfield.’

Amber nods. The detectives and nurse walk out, leaving Amber and Lumin alone. Lumin stares at the sketch she drew that morning.

‘You okay?’ Amber asks.

Lumin nods but Amber can see in her eyes she isn’t.

‘You’re good at drawing,’ Amber says, sensing the girl wants to distract herself.

Lumin traces her finger over her drawing of the lodge. ‘It’s not bad, is it?’

Amber thinks of the detailed sketches in the notepad. ‘Maybe that’s one of your talents?’

Lumin smiles slightly. ‘Yeah, maybe I’m creative, like you.’

‘What makes you think I’m creative?’

‘The shop. You have to be to run a place like that. Do you make the stuff in it?’

‘I renovate old pieces of furniture and odds and ends I find in charity shops then sell it on.’ Amber gestures to her left hand.‘Takes longer than it should though because of this.’

‘How did it happen?’ Lumin asks softly.

‘Frostbite. I was four. I was desperate to go outside and play in the snow. Apparently it was the first time I’d ever seen snow, but it was too cold so I wasn’t allowed. I snuck out anyway and got lost in the freezing cold.’

Lumin scoots closer to Amber. ‘I’m sorry. It sounds as though you might have saved me from something similar by finding me when you did.’

‘Maybe. Thank God it didn’t happen,’ Amber says, rubbing at her hand. They both go quiet.

Detective Matthews appears. ‘Can we have that chat, Miss Caulfield?’

‘Sure,’ Amber says, standing up and following the detective out of the room.

Over the next few minutes, Amber explains how she saw Lumin walking down the beach.

‘So what happens next?’ she asks when she’s finished.