“Oh, sorry! Leonie.” She spelled it, and Diane wrote it down.

“Surname?”

“Hers or mine?”

“Both, please.”

There was a hesitation that Ruby wanted to kick herself for. Diane looked up sharply; she’d noticed it too. “Douglas. We’re both Douglas.” Douglas would have to do; she couldn’t use her own name, Harper. It would be just her luck that one of the police officers would recognize it and wonder if there was any link to their colleague in Sheffield.

Diane pursed her lips as the pen moved. Then she glanced up.

“What about the father?”

Ruby closed her eyes and saw his face as she sometimes thought of him, that first meeting, the way he smiled shyly and looked away. She shook her head to clear it. Then she glared at Diane.

“Huh,” snapped Ruby. “That’s a bit personal, isn’t it?”

The two women locked eyes. Ruby radiated confident outrage, though below the surface she was unsure the act was working. There was a delicate line to be drawn: don’t beg, but don’t go too far the other way and make this woman angry or suspicious. After a moment, Ruby lowered her eyes. She dropped the confrontational tone. She said, “I’m sorry. I’ve been going out of my mind with worry. I didn’t mean to be rude, really. May I see my daughter, please?”

Diane appeared to consider the question. Her eyes traveled over Ruby, interpreting, judging the outfit: expensive leather boots, the winter skirt, the trendy parka. Ruby knew she looked nice, but she also hoped she looked plausible—the sort of woman who might make a mistake, but never the sort that would make more than one. Never the sort that needed intervention. It was crucial, this first impression, these judgments made in seconds, of a person’s trustworthiness, her social standing. Diane from Social Services had the power to take Leonie away just like that if she felt she had justifiable reasons. Ruby prayed that the other woman would decide this wasn’t one of those cases.

Diane smiled inscrutably and said, “I’m sure you’ll understand, Ms. Douglas, that when a child is found abandoned, alone in a shop, in weather like this, and the police are called, we have to do a certain amount of investigating. It’s a child protection issue. One can’t be too cautious.” Diane tipped her head to the side, her face blandly apologetic as the weighty words found their target.