‘The thing is,’ Cora explains as she hustles past me, the wheels of her suitcase clacking on the path, ‘we were meant to be staying with friends for three weeks, and we’ve rented our house out with Home Swap. Have you heard of them? Our neighbours use them, so we thought we’d give it a try. They clean before and after and you get a lot of money. Last time we did it the place was cleaner than we left it. Wasn’t it, Tim?’

‘Spick and span.’

‘Only the problem is, our friends have rather let us down. A family crisis, apparently. So, we’ve nowhere to go, and since you’re in this fix and we’re so worried about Nick, we thought we could turn a disaster into an opportunity.’

An opportunity? I am speechless. I fish in my bag for my keys. Are they going to stay for the full three weeks? Nick wouldn’t have allowed that; they would have driven him insane.

I do have to go to work tomorrow, a contract signing and a last check on a house in Chelsea before an American tenant and his family take up residence, but there’s no need for Tim and Cora to stay. I’m always back in time for Lottie and on the rare occasions that I’m not, Cassie takes her home.

‘Nick wouldn’t have objected,’ Cora says.

‘I don’t object,’ I say. ‘I’m just a bit surprised. You should have let me know.’

‘You don’t mind, do you?’ Tim asks. ‘We’ll keep out of your way.’

I wonder how they plan to do that. Stay in their bedroom?

‘We have plenty of London friends to catch up with,’ Cora says, following Lottie inside. ‘Not that I feel in the slightest bit sociable, but I think the three of us sitting round waiting for the phone would be too morbid.’

‘Four of us,’ Lottie says as she slides her rucksack off her shoulders and drops it to the floor.

‘Lottie, why don’t you go up to your bedroom for a few minutes and let your mother and me talk.’

‘I want to hear what you say. And I’m hungry.’

I glance at Cora, my eyebrows raised. Lottie goes into the downstairs toilet and closes the door behind her.

‘I just worry,’ I whisper, ‘that you two suddenly appearing is going to make Lottie think it’s worse than it is.’

‘How much worse can it get?’ Cora demands. ‘My son has gone missing.’