‘No,’ I said. ‘You need to go to work. I’ll be fine. Jake will keep me company.’

‘If you’re sure?’ I could hear the conflict in his voice as he reached out his arms and pulled me close. I pressed my face into his hairless chest and inhaled his warm, sleepy, musky scent. ‘Is Jake taking another day off then?’

‘Yeah. He told me last night that he couldn’t face going to work.’

‘I’m worried about him. He spent all of yesterday in his room.’

‘We’ll go out. Take a walk.’

He stroked the hair back from my face and kissed me on the forehead. ‘I think it’ll do you both good to get some fresh air.’

We never did go for that walk. When I knocked on Jake’s door he said he had a headache and maybe we’d go later. I rang Mum and we drove out to Chew Magna and walked around the lake together. She didn’t mention the website, the appeal or the photos. Instead we held hands and we talked about Dad and his bridge games and the weather and the woman in the corner shop whose husband had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Then Mum told me how worried she was about me.

I told her I’d started seeing a counsellor again but I didn’t mention the amnesia. She squeezed my hand tightly and it struck me, not for the first time, how hard this must be for her and Dad. I am their child, Billy is their grandchild. They must feel the same sense of powerlessness that I feel. That’s why Mum works so hard on the website. It’s her way of helping, of showing she cares.

When I returned home just after eleven Jake was still in his room. At twelve I knocked on his door and offered him some lunch. He said he wasn’t hungry. At tea time he asked if he and Kira could eat their meals in their room. Mark and I ate our steak, chips and peas in front of the TV. I can’t even remember if it was on.

The next day I had a call from Ian, Jake’s boss. He asked if Jake was over his stomach bug yet. I deliberated before answering, unsure whether to lie and say he was still ill or tell him that we’d had some bad news. Ian knows about Billy; Jake had only been working there for a few months when he vanished but I couldn’t tell him the real reason Jake was off work. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone outside our immediate family about Jason Davies. Ian didn’t ask any questions when I said Jake was having a difficult time at the moment but he did agree to let him have a few more days off. I was grateful when he said goodbye.