Driving down the road my eyes jump to every shadow, every movement searching for her. Could she be lying dead somewhere. No. Don’t go there, Sal, you know Amber is still alive. You would feel it if she wasn’t. Something would leave you, drag itself from your body and fly out into the night. As of yet, that hasn’t happened. I know my baby is still alive.

Tom sits beside me silent, fear stiffening his body. I manage to utter the address of the hotel, which I overheard Burke mentioning on the phone. Tom nods.

I shouldn’t have gone to the hair show, not with everything that’s going on. Megan would have understood if I didn’t go. I should have stayed at home, taken Amber to the party, collected her when it was over. But it’s too late now. Too late for ‘I should have’.

My phone beeps, it’s Megan, texting to see if Amber is home yet? I don’t answer her.

The streets are quiet until we reach the centre of the city. The hustle and bustle of Saturday nightlife evident everywhere I look. O’Connell street is full of people, most of them drunk. A young man stumbles in front of the car when we’re stopped at the lights. He’s out of his head, slipping to the ground before his friend steps out to help him back to his feet. Jesus, he doesn’t look much older than Amber. Where the hell are his parents? Irony slaps me in the face.

The more vulnerable people I see out of control, the more nervous I become. The madness scares me. Amber should be in her bed by now, dreaming sweet dreams. Breathing softly on her pillow, wrapped comfortably in her pink duvet. So should half of these kids.

One after the other, I conduct each breath in and out of my mouth. In… out… in… out. Unable to sit easy, my body shifting in the seat. ‘Can you go any faster?’

‘I’m going as fast as I can.’

‘Faster.’

‘Sal, we don’t know for sure Amber is with the crazy woman. She may have gone someplace else, fallen asleep in someone’s house, on the sofa. It happens all the time with teenagers.’ Tom is clutching at straws, slippery straws, trying to keep the worst possibilities from drilling a deep dark hole in his head.

‘I know… I know.’ I don’t know.

The police are searching Amber’s laptop hoping to find some insight as to where she could be. A contact that we haven’t given them, someone we don’t know about.