‘Anything could have happened,’ Rich cut in. Mark snapped his mouth closed, happy to allow the bigger man to talk. ‘She was a good girl, you know. Quiet, didn’t have many friends, but was never any trouble for our Julie. The other two, they’ve had their ups and downs, but Emily… Emily was always the good one. Kept her head down, let her twin do the talking. Not that they were close really.’

‘No?’ Mark said, wondering how well the man knew the family. And why he was already referring to Emily in the past tense? As if he knew that when people go missing for any length of time, they didn’t usually come home.

‘I thought twins were usually quite close?’ Mark said, when the quiet between them grew too much to bear. ‘That’s what I’ve always thought anyway. Not that I’ve known too many.’

‘Not those two. They’re far too different. Weird how that can happen. They were identical growing up, but then they just grew apart when they got older. Even though nothing changed really. Both brought up the same. One goes one way, the other… Well, we don’t know yet, I suppose. I’ll tell you something though. If anything has happened to her – if anyone has done something to her – I’m going to be doing time. A long time.’

Mark was standing about ten foot away, but suddenly felt very close to Rich. A vein bulged in his neck as he took a last drag from his cigarette and flicked it towards the fence on his right-hand side. He exhaled one last breath filled with smoke as his face crumpled and then he turned away, his body shaking.

‘Are you okay?’ Mark said, knowing it was a stupid question even as it fell from his lips. He tried to keep the surprise from his voice at the show of emotion from the man.

‘I’m fine,’ Rich replied, raising a hand to wipe away his tears. He was still standing with his back towards Mark, but even without seeing his face, Mark felt it was genuine emotion.

He just wasn’t sure if it was fear or regret he was witnessing.

‘This is just going to tear our Julie apart,’ Rich continued, turning back to Mark now. ‘She’s always done her best for them kids. On her own as well. They wanted for nothing. She deserves a bloody medal. Not… not something like this to happen.’

‘Do you spend much time with them?’

‘As much as I can, but I have my own stuff to sort out, you know? It wasn’t like they needed a father figure or anything. Julie was enough for the kids. She’s a diamond, our Julie. Worked hard all her life.’

Mark nodded, but still didn’t step closer to the man. He could see that wouldn’t help. Rich wouldn’t want a comforting hand on his shoulder.