‘Do you mind if I sit down?’ He lowers himself into Mark’s armchair without waiting for a reply.

‘Claire. Mark.’ He glances at the TV, still flickering in the corner of the room. I can’t remember him using our first names before. ‘Do you mind turning that off?’

I hear the sound of Mark’s voice but it’s lost in the white noise that fills my head.

The TV goes black. DS Forbes clears his throat and then licks his lips, the pink tip of his tongue peeping out of his mouth as it moistens his upper lip. Each gesture, each tiny gesture he makes seems huge. I feel as though I’m looking at him through a TV camera that’s zoomed in on his face. I want to press ‘stop’ and rewind him out of the room. Then I want to rewind my life back to the night that Billy left and skip past me storming out of the house, past the argument, past the visit to the police station to pick him up, past his first day of school and back to the moment he was born. When he was in my arms. When I wouldn’t let him out of my sight, not even for a second. When he was safe.

‘Claire. Mark. There’s been a development in Billy’s case and I’m afraid it’s not good news.’

The image of Billy, safe in my arms, becomes grey and distorted as the white noise in my head closes around him and he vanishes. A voice in my head screams through the white noise. Stop! Stop that man from speaking. I don’t want to hear what he’s about to say.

‘Does the name Jason Davies mean anything to either of you?’

Jason Davies? I close my eyes and search my memory for someone, anyone, I may have met with that name but all I can see are the faces of my friends and family, whirling around in the darkness.

‘No,’ Mark says. He nudges me. ‘Claire?’

I feel paralysed but somehow I manage to open my eyes and shake my head.

‘Should it mean something to us?’ Mark asks.

‘I’ve got a photo.’ DS Forbes reaches down by his feet and retrieves a black attaché case. Did he have it in his hand when he walked in? I can’t remember. I can’t remember anything apart from the sombre expression on his face when he appeared in the doorway.

‘Do you know this man?’ He holds out an A4 sheet of paper.