She noticed he looked dishevelled, had dark circles under his eyes, his face unshaven; very different from his usual buttoned up, carefully groomed demeanour. ‘I heard about the van,’ he said, following her into the living room. ‘My mother phoned me last night. I can’t believe—’ he broke off, looking around himself in alarm. ‘Christ, what happened here?’

‘We had a break-in,’ she told him. ‘You didn’t know?’

‘Break-in? No, I – when did …?’

‘I came home this morning and found it like this.’

His eyes widened. ‘My God.’ He sank into a chair, then listened as she told him about the scene she’d been met with earlier.

She continued with her tidying as she talked, aware of his gaze following her as she moved around the room. She had never been alone with him before, she realized, and she felt oddly exposed in his presence, her movements slow and clumsy beneath his scrutiny. She noticed him pick up the picture of her and Luke on Hampstead Heath and stare down at it, his expression unreadable. She wished that he would go. ‘What brings you here, Tom?’ she asked.

He looked up, the cool blue of his eyes meeting hers. ‘I had to be in town to see a client, and I wanted to see how you are.’

‘Really?’ She was unable to hide her surprise.

‘I’m conscious that you’re very much on your own down here, Clara. My parents and I have each other, but … well.’ He stopped, before adding quietly, ‘I’m sorry if you thought I was less than sympathetic when Luke first went missing. I assumed he’d just taken off for a few days – you know how impetuous he can be. I had no idea …’ he trailed off again, then cleared his throat. ‘Do the police have any inkling who might have broken in?’

‘No. They’ve searched for fingerprints, but I guess it’ll be a while before I hear anything.’ She surveyed the mess hopelessly. ‘The problem is there must be so many prints here. And if whoever it was wore gloves …’ she shrugged. ‘I got the impression they were only going through the motions. They haven’t got a clue. Not a fucking clue.’ She realized that she was going to cry and, desperate not to do so in front of Tom, excused herself and hurried to the bathroom, where she held a towel to her face as she stifled her sobs.