‘Mary used to live only a couple of miles away from here, in East Dulwich. About once a month, or whenever she was in a fix, she would drop Lizzie off here for me to look after her for the weekend – Friday night through to Sunday morning. I would take her for a day out on the Saturday, maybe to the zoo or to see the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, and every Sunday we would go to East Street Market to buy her a little present for being a good girl and have an ice cream or a glass of sarsaparilla. The rest of the time we would spend in the flat watching the TV or playing on the computer. She had a real talent for computers, just like her grandmother. She adored Lassoo and would demand that we took him out for a walk four, sometimes five, times a day. She always slept in my bedroom even though her mum had given me a little fold-out bed to put in the lounge. Her favourite bedtime story was called Billy’s Bus. It was about a fat black-and-white cat that used to drive his bus around town so that cats could go and visit each other. I had a little hand bell on my bedside table and she would ring it every time the bus stopped to pick up a passenger.’

I noticed Grace swallow hard and wipe a tear from her eye. I decided not to interrupt.

‘It was a Saturday evening, three years ago, and Lizzie wanted spaghetti hoops on toast for her supper. I didn’t have any in the cupboard so decided to pop out to the corner shop on Havill Street to get some. Lizzie was already in her pyjamas and pink dressing gown and a bit grumpy due to tiredness. As the shop was only five minutes away and she was pretty responsible for a seven-year-old, I didn’t feel too worried about leaving her in the flat on her own. I told her I would be back before she knew it and that she must stay on the settee with Lassoo and rub his tummy until I got back.