I wanted another chance. I desperately wanted another chance. That was when my mobile phone rang and James Mohktar told me he had found Fleur.

When we arrived, Fleur and DS Mohktar were still in Seremban Police Station. They were sitting in a stuffy little room with a ceiling fan. There was another fan on the desk moving stale air around. It was a deeply depressing room.

Mohktar got to his feet in relief and smiled at Jack and I. Fleur got up too, and she seemed so small and bewildered it made my heart jerk with pity and an urge to protect her. I saw her so rarely I had not watched her age and it was a shock to be confronted with the fact that she was, inevitably, older.

I went over to her and took her hands awkwardly. ‘Mum? Are you all right?’

She tried to smile. ‘I’m all right, darling, but how about you? I hear you had a bit of a fright?’

‘It was nothing, just the heat. I’m fine.’ I looked at her face; it was drained. ‘You’re exhausted. You need to sleep.’

‘I have slept…’ she said vaguely, ‘…it seems to make no difference…’ She looked past me at Jack.

‘Oh!’ I said quickly. ‘Mum, this is Jack.’

Jack stepped towards her and took her hand between both of his for a second and then stepped back. He didn’t say, ‘Glad to meet you…’ He didn’t say anything trite and I really loved him for it.

Mohktar coughed gently. ‘Mrs Campbell, if you can just answer some questions; Miss Montrose too. We need a DNA sample from both of you and then I will try and arrange accommodation for you.’

A Malay inspector came in with a record sheet. He spoke hardly any English so Mohktar translated. The few questions he asked were about the past, about Saffie and when we were last here in Malaysia. Could we remember which rest house, the date, the time, the year? It was as if they needed to verify that we were who we said we were. Fleur’s eyes did not leave the inspector’s face.

Those hours when Saffie disappeared were a blur to me, frightening, like a dream, not quite real. I could not remember the sequence of what happened in the hours and days afterwards. Fleur remembered every little thing.

The Malay inspector got up and smiled at us and said something in a different tone of voice and Mohktar translated.

‘Inspector Ibraham says to tell you he is most sorry for your tragedy in losing your daughter and for your sadness about the small body found. He says every effort will be made to verify the identity as quickly as possible to avoid more pain. He urges you to relax as much as possible in this lovely place and accept our hospitality and help. If there is anything that you need you must immediately let us know, lah?’

We both smiled at the inspector and thanked him. He left us and an Indian lady doctor came and took Fleur and me away. She took swabs from our mouths and two minutes later we were back with Jack and Mohktar. Of course I understood DNA, but I felt amazed that this quick little swab from the inside of our mouths would determine our link with some small bones found in a shallow grave.