Once they were all sitting down with mugs of tea, she raised her eyebrows questioningly. ‘So what’s all this about then? I told the police when they came before that I hadn’t really spoken to Luke for years. Occasionally I’ll bump into him in the village at Christmas or whatever, but it’s never more than “Hello, how’s it going” or what have you.’

Clara glanced at Mac. ‘We’re trying to build a picture of what Luke was like when he was younger,’ she said cautiously.

Amy blinked at her, nonplussed. ‘Yeah, that’s what the police said, and like I told them—’

‘We’re trying to find out anything we can, to see if we can work out what happened to him,’ Mac said.

‘Right,’ Amy said, still looking mystified. ‘Well, he’s not here, is he?’

There was a silence. This, thought Clara, had been a really bad idea. They must look completely barking mad. Suddenly Mac got up and went over to a photo stuck on the fridge. ‘Shit,’ he laughed. ‘Is this you and Mandy Coombs?’

‘Yeah, that’s us!’ Amy’s smile lit her face once more. ‘Think it was my eighteenth,’ she took the picture down and handed it to him. ‘Still a nutter – see her all the time!’

Clara listened while they reminisced about a club they used to go to in Ipswich. When there was finally a break in the conversation, she asked, ‘Do you have any of Luke and you? Pictures, I mean?’

Something passed across Amy’s face and she turned away. ‘No, I got rid of them years ago.’

‘Oh,’ Clara said. ‘Right …’

Amy shrugged. ‘Past is past. Ancient history, isn’t it?’ She looked at Mac. ‘Sorry, can you keep an ear out for the kids? Just going to have a quick ciggie in the garden.’

When she’d gone, Clara and Mac glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. ‘Maybe we should go,’ Mac said. ‘We’re not going to find out anything here. Guess it was a bit of a long shot …’

But had there been something strange about Amy’s expression, Clara wondered, her desire to leave the room so quickly? ‘Hold on,’ she said.

Following Amy into the garden she found her standing next to a trampoline strewn with toys, shivering while she puffed on a roll-up. Clara smiled apologetically. ‘I’m sorry about this,’ she said. ‘I know you and Luke were a long time ago, it’s just … no one knows what happened to him, he’s completely disappeared. The police don’t seem to be getting anywhere, or not that they’re telling me anyway. I’m trying to work out if there’s anyone from his past who might know something.’ She paused and, her voice catching, added, ‘We’re all so worried about him, his mum and dad, Mac, we’re getting desperate.’