‘Okay. I think I’ll hang around for a couple more hours, just in case. I’ll be in the coffee shop downstairs. Would you mind calling me if he turns up?’ Sienna has to cut her off. She can’t deal with any sympathy right now.

‘Of course.’ Rosa looks like she wants to say more than this, but she doesn’t.

And as she walks away, Sienna feels Rosa’s eyes on her, and knows without turning around that they will be full of pity, just as Marty’s were earlier.

Downstairs, she sits by the main doors and sips a lukewarm latte. She barely looks away from the door; she wants to cling on to the morsel of hope still within her. She finds her phone in her bag and texts Rob.

He hasn’t shown up for work.

There’s no need to add anything more. Surely, Rob will see that he needs to talk to Abby now.

Everything has changed. Since she got back from the hospital this afternoon, Sienna has spent the day on the phone, hours disappearing as she relays the new information that Greg hasn’t shown up for work. It’s as though he’s only been gone since this morning, even though it’s been over two weeks.

DC Roberts has already spoken to the hospital, was aware at the same time as Sienna that things have taken a sinister turn. Greg is being treated as high risk now. The fact that his debit card has only been used once is troubling, DC Roberts has told her.

Next was Holly, who for several moments was stunned into silence. She would tell Jackson, she’d said; he’d known Greg was meant to be back at work today.

Marty has called her, offered to come round and keep her company for a bit, but she hasn’t accepted. As much as she likes him, it would just be uncomfortable.

Rob is different, though, and when he texts back and says he will come over, she gratefully accepts.

She needs to keep busy while she waits for him, needs for her mind to be consumed only with the mundane act of cleaning out the fridge. Greg is always the one who does it. For some reason it’s one of those things that barely registers on her radar. Superficially it looks clean: that sums her up completely.

She’s halfway through this task when the doorbell rings. Rob is quicker than she’s expected. She hurries to the door and flings it open, ready to unleash all the pain she’s kept trapped inside her since Greg didn’t turn up for work.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says, reaching for her and pulling her into a hug. It is brief and tentative, but she knows he’s not a tactile person; at least not with anyone other than Abby.

‘Does she know?’ Sienna asks.