Ellen looks at her watch before agreeing it’s not a problem. Kenny’s face immediately freezes, his eyes dart from side to side. The poor kid must feel like an animal at a circus so I suggest he goes into his room in case he has homework to do. The relief melts his expression and he immediately gets up from the table and leaves.

‘We’ll be back in half an hour, Ellen, if you want to ring Jack to pick you up then, or Tom can drop you home.’

Moving closer to her I whisper quietly, ‘I wouldn’t ask you to wait Ellen only I don’t want him on his own in the house with Amber until I get to know him.’

Ellen nods a wink. ‘That’s fine, Sal, Jack will collect me when you get back. Take all the time you need.’

‘They’ll think someone’s dead,’ I say, getting into the car. ‘I don’t believe we’ve ever gone together to pick up the boys.’

Tom laughs, still under the influence of having had an opportunity to tell his ‘hole in one’ story.

When the car pulls away from outside the house, I question Tom about what Kenny said. Who was it that told him Tom was his father? Kenny is saying it was his mother, but Tom is becoming suspicious like me. He’s convinced the mother didn’t want Kenny to know and doesn’t believe she would have told him. So who could it have been? Who told Kenny about Tom? Was it the mystery woman? The one the cops believe may be the killer. And if so, why?

The crèche vibrates with a completely positive atmosphere when we go through the door. Happy energy bursting out into the hallway from each of the busy rooms. Crayoned portraits hang on the wall to my right. ‘Our families’ is the heading above the display. Each picture is sketched in a rainbow of colour. Big people beside little people, one adult with one small person holding hands, two adults with three little people in the middle and other images with people in a row tallest to smallest. I wonder which ones are Cian and Aaron’s. My eyes dart from one to the other but before I have time to locate my boys’ masterpieces, Lorna the manager comes out of a room to see us. Her hair is tied back and she’s wearing a pair of leggings and a T-shirt, skinny as a lollipop stick.

‘Could I have a word before I call the boys?’ she says, sending waves of alarm through my body. What is it now? Has Aaron pushed someone again or did Cian curse at his teacher? Something tells me, by the way she doesn’t make full eye contact, that this is something else. And even though I don’t want to go there I have a funny feeling I know what it is.