Today was the Roald Dahl celebration at Gigi’s nursery and we were having creative differences in our opinion of what she should wear. I looked at my daughter, standing in a bright pink glitter-covered tiara and an extravagantly sequined princess dress, her arms folded and mouth clamped in a firm frown.

Part of my training as a Rat was understanding when a subject was never going to crumble. There was no defeating this two-year-old. At least not without offering up a whole lot of bribery and I didn’t think filling her up on Haribo before nursery was something Ms Yvonne would commend me for. Besides, my Matilda costume offering of a blue dress and three books was lame and we both knew it.

‘Fine. Wear that.’ I admitted defeat. My side was starting to ache. I reached down to touch it and felt blood. ‘Mama’s just going to finish getting ready. You can watch Peppa until I’m back.’

‘Hurrah, Peppa!’ Gigi plonked herself down on the sofa as I switched on the TV.

‘I’ll just be upstairs.’ Gigi didn’t even look at me, her eyes already transfixed on the bright screen.

I got to our bathroom and pulled off my top. I looked at the bandage. Red blood was streaking through it. Dammit, my quick fix last night hadn’t held. I gingerly took off the bandage and rummaged around the bathroom cupboard looking for another. I found one and pulled it out.

‘Mummy bleeding.’ Gigi was in the doorway. She frowned. ‘Mummy hurt.’

‘Oh no, sweetheart. Mummy’s fine. Just a little ouchie.’ I quickly wrapped the bandage round me and pulled my top back on. ‘Why aren’t you watching Peppa?’

‘It finished.’

Of course it did. What the hell was the point of episodes that lasted less than five minutes?

*

‘One Ghost got away.’

Hattie was waiting for me as the lift doors opened into the Platform and a flurry of activity. Numerous technicians were in every corridor.

‘The meeting room has been cleared. It’s safe to talk in there.’ He led me through.

My detour to the Kensington Wing to get stitched up and max-up on painkillers had taken longer than expected. Geraint, Pixie and Robin were already there.

I took my seat at the dining table as Hattie moved to his position in front of the whiteboard.

‘We checked the CCTV from the tunnels and one of the Ghosts made a run for it when Lex got them all firing at each other. He slipped out the side tunnel door they came in. We have a pretty good visual of him.’

Geraint projected a close-up of the Ghost’s face onto the whiteboard. He had short dark hair and thick eyebrows.