He nodded.

‘I think they are real, but not in the way they show them on TV or in the movies.’ Harri tapped her chest. ‘I think they live in here. That’s where my mum and dad are. They’re always with me, watching over everything I do.’

Elliot considered the idea.

‘I think your mum and dad are with you, Elliot. I think they’re watching you.’

‘He says one day I’m going to have to go away,’ Elliot whispered.

She was getting close now. Close to the secret. She felt as though she could almost reach out and touch it. She just needed the boy to trust her.

‘He says I’m going to have to go away and never come back.’

Harri felt nauseous. Was this child suggesting Ben planned to kill him? She couldn’t believe it of the man she’d fallen in love with a year ago, but she wasn’t so sure about this more recent incarnation. She had to know. She had to be certain.

‘What does he mean?’ she asked. ‘Where do you have to go?’

Elliot eyed her thoughtfully.

‘He says you’re special. He says we’ll always be together.’

‘I am special,’ Harri agreed. ‘That’s why you can trust me. Please, Elliot, you can trust me. You can tell me if you’re in danger.’

He looked as though he was about to speak.

And then Mandy walked in and ruined the moment.

‘All done here. Thank you for your time, Elliot. We’ve just been talking to Ben outside, and you seem well cared for. We’ll follow up in a month or so, but you’re all good.’

Well cared for?

Harri wanted to shake the woman out of such blindness, but Sabih appeared at the door.

‘Coming?’

‘Elliot was just telling me something,’ Harri tried. ‘Something important.’

‘No I wasn’t,’ Elliot said.

Mandy gave Harri a cynical look. ‘We really should go. Our presence here is no longer in the child’s best interests.’

You mean my presence, Harri thought, but she didn’t say anything.

Elliot kept his eyes on Harri as she followed Mandy and Sabih out. They passed Ben Elmys, who was coming in through the front door, and Harri felt his eyes burning her with a judgemental stare. She’d brought these people to their home, and she felt very much as though this was a walk of shame.

But it’s not, she thought as she stepped outside. She wasn’t the one who’d done anything wrong. And she replayed the conversation she’d just had with Elliot. None of this was normal.

She glanced round and saw Ben shut the front door. Mandy joined Nessa, and the two of them walked towards the 3 Series parked down the drive.

‘Sab,’ Harri whispered to her former colleague, and he walked over. ‘Cover me.’

He looked perplexed as she ducked round the Land Rover Defender and crouched by the back wheel. Sabih stood over her while she pretended to tie her shoelace.

‘Are you coming?’ Mandy called to them.