The gap was too narrow, and her elbow became wedged as she reached in, straining her shoulder. A drip of cold water caught the nape of her neck and trickled under her top, making her shudder. She raised the torch to the dark patch spreading across the dirty plaster then contemplated the bulk of the washing machine. With a huge effort, she managed to shift it an inch, enough to get her arm all the way in and to grip the handle, but it refused to budge, and she was jammed at too awkward an angle to put any welly into it.

Anna straightened up and cast around for something to help crank the washing machine further away from the wall, but there was nothing. Her cellar was full of stuff that she hadn’t got round to unpacking and probably never would. Her mistake had been to allow Ben’s brother and parents to choose what they wanted, but at the time she had been too dazed by events to stop them. They left her to cope alone, and when she finally managed to sell the flat and moved here none of them offered to come and help fix it up. Selfish bastards; they never liked her. If it hadn’t been for Kai, they would have dropped her entirely.

The doorbell rang. She quickly wiped her face on her sleeve and noticed a rip in the underarm of her shirt, where it had been stretched against the corner of the washing machine. This was not the impression she had hoped to make on Grace’s ex-boyfriend.

Upstairs, Lottie was hanging off a tall, thin bloke. Anna deflected the torch beam to the floor so as not to blind him and distinguished short salt-and-pepper hair, prominent cheekbones, grey eyes, hard mouth. In the shadowy light, the effect was magnetic and disorientating.

‘Douglas Parr.’ He raised his eyebrows in a friendly way and held out his hand. ‘I appear to have come at a good time.’

There was humour in his voice, but also a certain authority that immediately reassured her. Help had arrived.

Douglas took charge, first switching off the electricity, then addressing himself to the washing-machine problem. He squatted, pressed his shoulder against the wall and shoved. It resisted, then gave. Anna shone the torch into the space. Douglas reached in, twisted the stopcock, then straightened with a grunt, brushing a spider’s web from his sleeve. He grinned, his head cocked to one side, his hand pressed against the ceiling, as if he was hoping to create more space.

‘There you go.’

‘Thank you so much.’

He switched the electricity back on and, from upstairs, Lottie and Kai shouted, ‘Hey! Switch it off.’ There was a peal of laughter.

Douglas grinned and Anna’s whole body responded. ‘At least someone’s happy.’

‘I know. I think they’ve bonded.’

‘Do you have a plumber you can call?’