‘I spoke to him about it,’ Natasha continued, as if he hadn’t interrupted. ‘Tried to gauge what had happened, if there was something we should be worried about. It seemed like it was brushed under the carpet a bit, given it was just shut down with no warning.’

Mark thought for a second. ‘What happened to these kids that it created such a worry in the first place? I don’t quite understand what actually went on during these meetings.’

‘I don’t know myself for sure,’ Natasha said, hesitating over each word. ‘I think there was talk of violence. About making yourself a victim and how to combat that. That wasn’t the main problem with it though. It was a toxic atmosphere for the girls there. As if it were solely their issue. The men in charge didn’t believe they could be bullied or have any negative effects from it.’

‘That sounds ridiculous – why go in the first place?’

‘If we’re going to try and work out why certain things are ridiculous towards certain genders, we could be here a long time.’

Mark held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Okay, but what happened to stop you looking into them? You haven’t exactly struck me as the type to give up easily.’

‘I was met with silence,’ Natasha replied, shaking her head with frustration. ‘And the caseload. I was asked to leave it alone, given it had shut down and the kids involved weren’t interested in doing anything with it anymore. Doesn’t mean I was happy about it, but sometimes you have to move on.’

‘I guess it wasn’t really your job,’ Mark said, feeling for the first time since they’d met that he wasn’t getting the full truth from her. That there was something being left unsaid. He mused for a moment or two on whether to push it further, but decided against it. ‘Well, it looks as though my missing person had some contact with them or someone pretending to be them at least. And that’s in the past couple of months. Which only makes this whole case that bit more complicated, if it has you worried as a social worker.’

Natasha shrugged but didn’t say anything more, finishing her lunch in silence. Mark picked at the salad a little more, before pushing it to one side. ‘Listen, sorry for bringing up my work problems. Probably not what you were hoping for when I asked to meet up.’

‘It’s okay,’ Natasha replied and sounded genuine about it. ‘Although, this is the second or third time we’ve eaten together and I’m still not sitting in a fancy restaurant.’

‘I’ll book somewhere,’ Mark said instantly, swearing at himself internally. ‘It’s on my list. We’ve gone at this a bit backwards, I suppose.’