But Elspeth had held her all night, and not minded when she’d cried. When Meggy had woken up screaming, terrified, the sheet wet and reeking beneath their bodies, Elspeth had stroked her hair, and moved her gently to change the sheet. Elspeth, it turned out, had children of her own – a boy and a girl. She was the sort of mother who would never decide that she needed to pursue her own ‘mindfulness needs and soul development’, whatever the hell that was, and dump her kids with a bitchy step-mother and emotionally stunted father.

‘Meggy,’ Elspeth said softly. ‘Have you ever picked a lock before? Not that I’m saying you can’t do it, but I just don’t know how we’d even go about trying something like that.’

‘Well, no, but we’d need something thin and tough. On TV it’s usually a credit card. Do you have one with you?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Elspeth shrugged. ‘I have no idea what he did with my bag. I don’t have any of my things here.’

‘That’s okay, I’ve got another idea.’

She opened the wardrobe, grabbed a pair of leggings and a top, grateful for a fleeting moment about the lack of light that enabled her to ignore the hideous pinkness, and threw the clothes on. ‘Kitchen.’

Elspeth followed her with less energy but more curiosity, obliging by plugging in the lamp where needed, as Meggy opened every drawer and cupboard. Nothing useful there.

‘Back to the bedroom,’ Meggy ordered, once there ripping open every board game until she held a square aloft. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘It’s been laminated.’

‘What is it?’ Elspeth asked.

‘Some magic spell card from a fantasy game. Come on, this has to work.’

They went to the apartment door and positioned the light so they could both see, crowding either side of the door lock as Meggy pushed the card into the slim space and began wiggling it.

‘It’s not hard enough. The plastic’s getting all scrunched up at the edges.’ She pulled the card back out and held it to the light.

‘It’s a Chubb lock; there’s no way we’ll be able to pick it,’ Elspeth said.

‘We just need to try something stronger,’ Meggy declared. ‘It’ll have to be metal. What is there that’s metal?’

‘Breakfast first,’ Elspeth declared. ‘I need a drink.’

‘That’s it, we can take the microwave apart, get to the workings.’