She wonders how other relatives would deal with this, if they were making a complaint. How would they handle it? She wishes she had a script to follow. People in films make things look easy but they have someone directing them, Chloe just has to make things up as she goes along.

‘She’s very weak,’ Chloe says. ‘She’s mostly sleeping. Whatever happened? She seems confused, she’s saying something about going out into the garden?’

Miriam sighs. ‘Well, like many of our residents here, Grace likes to wander . . .’ She pauses before she continues, her eyes flickering over Chloe in a way that makes her feel she should be the one feeling uncomfortable. ‘There’s an area at the back of the garden, mostly hidden by shrubbery and, for whatever reason, she was down there and she somehow found a hole in the fence leading onto the building site.’ She pauses, linking her fingers. ‘We don’t believe in keeping our residents prisoners.’

‘But she’s meant to be safe here. She’s meant to be well cared for. This never happened when I—’

Miriam puts her hands up. ‘Chloe, I know this has been a shock for you too, but I can assure you that your grandmother is well cared for here. If there’s one thing thirty-two years in this job has taught me, it’s that you might think some of our residents come in here with these brain diseases, but they very much still have a mind of their own.’

‘I know,’ Chloe says.

‘If your grandmother wants to go for a wander down the garden, there’s not much we can do to stop her.’

Miriam laughs a little, and Chloe joins her because it feels right, letting the air back into the office, reminding themselves that Nan is a person before a patient. Chloe is back then inside Maureen and Patrick’s house; that light, excited feeling she’d felt when she was there returns to her.

‘I know, it’s just . . .’

Miriam looks across the desk at her.

‘Well, it’s just I have this opportunity – with work. It might take me away for a while and, I won’t be able to relax if—’

‘Chloe, this was a one-off, it won’t happen again. I can assure you of that. Of course you must take this opportunity, and you’re only on the end of the phone, aren’t you?’

‘I guess,’ she says, letting Miriam convince her.

The matron leans across the desk.

‘You must take this opportunity, you can’t put your life on hold. We’ll take care of your grandmother. That’s our job.’

Chloe nods, torn between the image of Nan in her bed and the house in Low Drove.

‘I’d better get back to her,’ she says.

Miriam nods. ‘Of course.’