He was distraught when Billy disappeared. He kept asking me, over and over again, to tell him what had happened the night he’d disappeared. Billy was always his favourite out of his two nephews. They both shared a love of Formula 1 and Billy would spend every Sunday at his house when it was racing season. Jake went along too the first few times but he said it was boring, watching cars whizz round and round the track, and he asked to stay at home instead. When I pressed him he said he thought Uncle Stephen was weird. He said he didn’t like the way he hugged him – he squeezed him too tightly. Jake’s never been keen on physical affection but his comment made me nervous. I started quizzing Billy about his visits to Stephen’s house, and I looked for abnormal behaviour like lying or bed-wetting or night terrors, but Billy seemed fine. If anything, he seemed happier on leaving Stephen’s house than he had been when he went in. I needed to be sure, though, so I went to pick him up an hour early once, just so I could peep through the window before ringing the bell. There was nothing worrying going on. Just Billy and Stephen sitting beside each other on the sofa with a can of Coke each, a tub of Roses chocolates between them, the TV blaring in the corner of the room and Caroline sitting at the table reading a magazine.

I still thought it was odd, the way Stephen had bonded with one of the boys and not the other, but there was no denying how much they had in common. As well as Formula 1 they both adored Top Gear, The Gadget Show and anything to do with robots. Stephen said he could relate to Billy more than Jake, being a younger son too. He said he saw a lot of himself in Billy, even though they weren’t related by blood. He tried not to show his favouritism but you could see it in the presents he bought for the kids. Billy’s were always more expensive, something he’d ‘desperately wanted’ whilst Jake’s were generic ‘boy’s toys’ that you might give to one of the kids’ friends for their birthday. I hated seeing the hurt look in Jake’s eyes so I started putting his Christmas card from Stephen in a different envelope, along with a tenner from my purse. I had to stop when Jake thanked his uncle for the money and Stephen said he didn’t know what he was talking about.