‘None of that matters. Justice is what matters. You don’t have to tell them anything beyond what actually happened. This might come out eventually and then where will you be? How will people feel about you then? You can’t keep this to yourself, it’s not your secret to keep. What if he took that girl?’ Tim was more invested than Jasmine expected him to be; he seemed genuinely upset at the disappearance of this girl. She had to ask herself why he was so desperate for her to put Mr Morrell in the frame. He was right about one thing though, the truth always came out, and so she really felt like she had no choice.

The stairs creaked, alerting Jasmine that Lisa was coming down. She jumped up and put the kettle on before her mother arrived in the room.

‘OK, I’ll tell her,’ Jasmine whispered over the sound of the kettle.

‘Do you want me to go?’

‘No, stay.’ Jasmine wanted to gauge his reaction as she told her mother.

Jasmine pulled a mug out of the cupboard and started to make her mother a coffee, to give her something to focus on while she was telling Lisa about what had happened at the fair.

‘Morning, Jazz. Ooh, could you make me one?’

‘This one’s for you,’ Jasmine said. She looked over at the pantry to where Tim was leaning against the door with his arms folded, as if he were just part of the scenery.

‘Oh, I thought it might be for Tim.’

‘I’m fine, I just had one,’ he said, before turning his head to Jasmine and nodding ever so slightly.

‘I need to talk to you about something,’ Jasmine said. No point delaying it now.

‘What is it?’ Lisa asked, seeming almost excited at the prospect of a rare heart-to-heart with her daughter, especially one she didn’t have to instigate. Jasmine put the coffee in front of her mother on the dining table, before sliding into the chair opposite her. She wished she had a mug to hold onto; she didn’t know what to do with her hands.

‘I saw Mr Morrell last night.’

‘What? Where?’ Lisa’s eyes widened with alarm,

‘At the fair,’ Jasmine said.

‘He was at the fair? He’s not supposed to be around kids,’ Lisa said, her nostrils flared and lips pursed together in a tight knot, her jaw twitching as she tried to suppress her anger.

‘He wasn’t at the fair. I went to the loo and he came up to me.’

‘He was in the toilets?’ Lisa said, horrified, her voice jumping several octaves.

‘No. Mum, calm down, it was on the way to the loos on the front.’

‘Were you alone?’ she asked, a little calmer, obviously trying not to spook Jasmine into shutting down.