‘I’ll ring you tomorrow. Take care.’

Laura watched him drive away. It was always good to see Sam, but he’d done nothing to reassure her. It seemed her fears were real after all.

* * *

‘I don’t get it, where has the little shite disappeared to?’ Stacey flopped on to a mess-room chair and glowered at Jay. ‘Day two already, and we still haven’t got hold of Ratty.’

‘It seems a bit out of character, I must say. According to his somewhat dubious neighbour, he never goes away,’ said Jay. He opened a large plastic lunch box and stared hopefully at the contents.

‘Another healthy option, Jay?’ Stacey smiled, wondering who it was that took such care with her workmate’s diet.

He sighed. ‘Looks that way. Oh, but there’s two bran muffins in here. They’re delicious — made with apple sauce instead of fat. I’ll save one for you if you like.’

Stacey was more of a full-fat girl but hated to offend her crewmate. ‘Smashing — if you can spare it.’

‘Of course.’ He handed her a carefully wrapped muffin.

Surprised at how tasty it looked, Stacey thanked him. ‘So what’s the main course today?’

‘It’s a stuffed spinach chapati with masala corn.’ He raised his eyes from the box, apologetically. ‘Not pretty to look at, but it’s really very tasty.’

‘You don’t cook all this yourself, do you, Jay? Only you never seem to know what you’ve got until you open it.’ In for a penny, thought Stacey.

‘I’m living with my brother and his family until I get settled. His wife Ravinder treats me like their fourth child.’ He showed her the lid of his lunch box where someone had written “Jay A” in felt pen, with a sticker of a smiling spider.

‘The kids have a new sticker every day. I see it’s mini-beasts today.’ He shrugged. ‘As I said, I’m kid number four.’

‘I think that’s lovely!’ said Stacey, eyeing her supermarket sandwich. ‘I wish someone cared enough about me to make me a personalised home-cooked lunch.’

Stacey lived with her sister. If anyone was going to cook in their household, it had to be Stacey. Danielle didn’t do cooking. Actually, Danielle didn’t do much of anything. The place would be a dosshouse if it weren’t for Stacey’s frantic clean-ups after her shifts finished. She wished she could leave, but the house belonged to her. She had inherited it from their father, who had known exactly what would happen if Dannie got her hands on it. The will had stipulated that Stacey must look out for her sister, and she was determined not to let her dad down. After a rocky start, the confirmed dropout was finally in full-time work. Even better, she seemed to love it. If she could only come to love housework too . . .

‘So what do we do about Ratty?’ Jay was asking.

‘Find the bugger. What else?’ Stacey ate half of her sandwich and threw the rest in the bin. She rubbed her hands together. ‘Now, time for that muffin.’