The second Jake’s bedroom door slams shut I head for the kitchen and yank open the cutlery drawer. I rifle through the different compartments and count out the steak knives.

I find three and put them on the kitchen table, then pull open the door to the dishwasher. It’s mid-cycle – Jake must have put it on shortly before I returned home – and a cloud of steam hits me full in the face. When the steam has dissipated I pull out the cutlery basket and pick through the spoons, forks and knives.

I pull out two steak knives by their handles and line them up with the others on the table. Five knives.

I go through the cutlery drawer again, lifting up the metal tray to see if a knife has found its way underneath but there’s nothing there apart from a rusty bottle opener. I look in the dishwasher, both trays this time, then pull the bottom one out and feel around in the drum of the machine. Nothing.

The utensils pots near the oven are next. The missing knife isn’t in with the wooden spoons or the spatulas, nor is it in the knife block. I rummage through the junk drawer beneath the microwave but there’s no knife there either. The only other place to check is Jake’s room.

I have to knock three times before my son responds.

When I open the door he is lying on his bed in his boxer shorts, his thick arms crossed over his chest, his hands tucked beneath his armpits. I can see the wariness in his eyes. He thinks I’ve come to have another go at him about cheating on Kira.

‘What is it, Mum?’

‘Just looking for dirty dishes.’ Normally I’d find plates on the carpet, mugs on the chest of drawers and breakfast bowls stacked on top of each other on his bedside table, but his room appears to be completely free of either crockery or cutlery.

‘I put the dishwasher on earlier.’

‘Yes, I saw.’

‘You don’t need an excuse if you want to come and talk to me, you know.’

‘I didn’t … I wasn’t …’

‘I deserved it,’ he says flatly. ‘You screaming at me earlier. It’s been a long time coming. I’m surprised you didn’t hit me.’

‘I’d never do that.’