So, when Chris had approached her at a party, she didn’t think twice. She went for a drink with him and ended up spending the summer with him. They collected their A-level results together, went to Manchester university, and for the most part she was happy. Paul had moved away, and that chapter of her life had been replaced with a law degree, a man who told her he loved her, and the prospect of an exciting career. Nothing could hurt or threaten her now and it was a relief; a relief to know that despite the incident, she was living what her mother often told her was a dream life.

So, now as Claire looked across her desk at Rose, it was understandable for Claire to feel uneasy – the case was a stark reminder of her own past, which she had worked hard to put behind her. But there was something else that had troubled Claire. It was the phone call that had done it. Her home phone had rung just after Chris had left with Joshua and Jamie that morning. Her initial thought was that it was Lucy telling her she was ill and couldn’t come in that day. Who else would call so early in the morning?

So, picking up the receiver, she was already half planning a contingency plan to leave work early and pick up Jamie. But as she placed the phone to her ear, she could hear slow and steady breathing. It had happened before, not frequently enough to cause major concern though and Claire had just put it down to prank calls. They happened to everyone. What did people expect when the council shut down the youth club? You were left with a group of kids with nothing better to do. But over the years, Claire wondered if she’d had more than her fair share.

Pushing that morning’s call to one side, she reasoned with herself that she had taken this case on against her better judgement and it was making her jumpy. Knowing she wasn’t going to get much further with Rose, she decided to call it a day.

*

‘I was thinking about us today,’ said Claire to Chris as they sat at home eating their evening meal. ‘About when you first asked me out.’

It was almost eight o’clock and the house was quiet. Jamie was in bed and Joshua had wolfed down his meal before heading to his room with his laptop. Chris looked up from his plate, the pasta poised on the fork.

‘Really? What made you think of that?’

‘Nothing in particular,’ said Claire, not wanting to share details of Rose. ‘Do you remember? You asked me out for a drink at the sixth form social. Later you told me you were worried I was going to say no.’