‘Chloe, you must leave it to the police, they know what they’re doing.’

Chloe nods.

‘But if there’s anything I can do, even if you just need company. You know you could always come over to us, Phil wouldn’t mind you staying for a few—’

‘I’m fine,’ Chloe says quickly.

Hollie looks away, scolded.

Chloe’s voice softens then. She never means to hurt her friend. ‘Honestly, you’re right, they’ll find her.’

‘They will,’ Hollie says. ‘And you’ll let me know if there’s anything I can do to help?’

Chloe nods, relieved her best friend has heard, as always, what was left unspoken.

‘Of course,’ she says.

Then Hollie dips her eyes, and with a whisper she says, ‘But when this is all over, we should . . .’ Her voice trails off.

It’s times like these when something ugly stirs inside Chloe. She knows it’s all right for Hollie, she had a family to call her own, she didn’t have the same chopping and changing that Chloe had. And now she has Phil, a new build on an estate and – Chloe notices – a new ring on her finger.

‘Is that a . . .?’ she says, grateful for a reason to change the subject.

Hollie twiddles the gold band of tiny navy stones around her ring finger.

‘Oh, no, not an . . . no, it’s an eternity ring. Phil gave it to me for our eighteen-month anniversary.’

‘I didn’t know people celebrated an eighteen-month anniversary,’ Chloe says.

Hollie shrugs. ‘We do.’

Phil works on an insurance helpdesk, like a lot of people in this city. He has the same small-town haircut, wears the same small-town uniform. Chloe used to see a lot more of Hollie before she met Phil; now she makes excuses so she doesn’t have to go round to their house for spaghetti carbonara and stand in their kitchen admiring their matching kettle, toaster and bread bin. Something about it makes Chloe feel claustrophobic.

Chloe starts playing with the tiny sachets of sugar and sweetener on the table. She empties them from their tub, separating them into white and brown sugar and sweetener and stacking them in piles.

‘I’m so worried about Nan out there, all alone.’

Hollie picks up her spoon and stirs her coffee.

‘I’m all she’s got in the world.’

Hollie shuffles in her chair and looks around the cafe. She sticks out her hand across the table. ‘These are actually sapphires, and these’ – she points to two barely there white dots – ‘these are diamonds.’

‘Nan has a ring just like it.’

‘Phil got it from that new place in town, by the market. He chose it.’