And then she walked slowly from the room, leaving me staring after her, reeling in shock.

I heard her go out an hour later. The first thing I did was to try to call Rose to warn her, but the phone rang and rang until in the end I gave up. I paced the house, adrenalin and fear shooting through me while I went over and over what Hannah had said, driving myself mad trying to work out what her next move might be. What did she want with Emily? What was she planning to do? No matter how many times I tried Rose, there was no answer: nobody picked up, nobody, it seemed, was home.

When Doug got back later that evening I pulled him into the kitchen and shutting the door in case Toby should overhear us, told him what had happened. ‘I can’t get hold of Rose,’ I said anxiously. ‘Maybe they’ve changed their number since the last time I saw her, it was nine years ago, after all.’

‘Christ,’ he said, looking at me in dismay. ‘And you have no idea where Hannah has gone?’

‘No. She left but she didn’t say where.’

At that moment, Toby came in. ‘What’s up?’ he asked, stopping dead and looking from one to another of our faces.

‘Nothing!’ I said brightly. ‘Nothing at all. Go and wash your hands for tea, will you?’

We tried to eat a normal meal, but I couldn’t stop the panic pulsing through me. The look in Hannah’s eyes had been so triumphant, so spiteful. Maybe she’d been bluffing, I told myself, maybe I should just wait and see, but I couldn’t ignore the fear that was slipping and sliding in the pit of my stomach, and though I kept trying Rose, no one picked up. As the clock crept closer to ten o’clock, I made up my mind. ‘I’m going to drive over there, to Suffolk,’ I told Doug.

He looked worried. ‘Maybe I should come with you.’

‘No,’ I said decisively. ‘Wait here with Toby in case Hannah comes back. She was probably only trying to scare us.’