‘But that’s the police’s job, Jake! Not yours!’ I look to my husband for support. He rubs his hands over his face and peers at me over his fingertips. He looks as shocked, exasperated and exhausted as I feel.

‘Yeah? Well, the police did a fucking great job with Jason Davies, didn’t they, Mum? They let him get Billy.’

‘We don’t know that!’ Mark says. ‘We don’t know what happened to Billy. No one does.’

‘But what if he did do it, Dad? He said he did. He’s abused other kids. That’s why he’s in jail. I looked him up on the Internet. I read about his court cases. I couldn’t get to Davies but I thought that if I took one out – one paedophile – if I fucked him up badly enough he’d be too scared to try it again. And I’d have saved a kid. I’d have saved someone else’s child, someone else’s brother but then …’ He rubs a hand over his eyes and takes several deep breaths.

‘What is it, Jake?’

‘You followed me.’

‘What?’ Mark looks at me.

‘To the car park?’ I say. ‘I followed you to the car park?’

‘Claire?’ Mark says. ‘What are you talking about? What car park? What happened?’

‘Mum followed me. I went to meet this guy, someone I’d reeled in, in the men’s toilets in a car park in town and Mum turned up.’

All the hairs on my arms go up. He was there. Jake was there. And he ran off and left me.

‘Oh God, Mum. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’ Jake stalks from one side of the garage to the other, breathing heavily through his nose and staring at the ceiling.

‘Tell us what happened!’ Mark barks and Jake stops pacing and looks me in the eye.

‘This guy, Graham, I met him in a chat room for teens. I called myself Jamie and said I was fourteen. We started chatting about football at first but it didn’t take him long to ask me whether I had a girlfriend. I said no, I wasn’t very interested in girls and I was feeling quite depressed because my family didn’t understand me and—’

‘Oh God.’ Mark slumps forward, head in his hands again.

‘Carry on, Jake,’ I say.