She rolls her eyes. ‘Through the double doors and on the right.’

Isla smiles at the receptionist as her mum leaves them alone. The lanyard pass around her neck reads Valerie. Isla takes a leaflet from the desk and uses it to swat a fly.

‘Sit down if you want,’ Valerie says.

Isla sits near the doors at the back of the room and watches the ceiling fan rotate. Valerie sings to herself, low and melodic. From somewhere inside the building, Isla hears a man’s voice: a tone of surprise. She can’t make out his words.

She stands. Valerie is preoccupied, folding a letter into an envelope. Isla slips through the double doors, into a dark corridor with rooms leading off it on either side, the doors closed. Another corridor branches off to the right, leading to more meeting rooms and offices. Halfway down, a door stands open.

‘Why did you do that?’ Louisa says, from behind the open door. ‘Why did you say she’d withdrawn that cash?’

Isla looks through a glass panel to see Steve standing by a long, narrow table, his crate of files at his side. Her mum stands facing him.

‘I thought it might be best,’ he says. ‘I thought it might be comforting to her family. And to you.’

‘I don’t need to be comforted.’

‘Your son said you were upset by the police enquiry.’

‘I’m upset you told a pack of lies about what happened to your wife.’

His face changes. He remembers a different Louisa, Isla thinks. One who didn’t fight back.

‘Why did you do that? Your wife is missing. Why did you want the case closed?’

‘Look, can we talk later?’ He looks anxiously around the room. ‘This is a bad time.’

‘You haven’t answered me.’

‘I spoke to Ray,’ he says, rubbing the back of his head. ‘I called Ray and he agreed it might be kinder all round if—’

‘Who’s Ray?’ Louisa says, raising her voice, stepping closer to him when he doesn’t reply. Isla knows this moment, where her mother’s switch trips. She can’t see her face, but she can see the aggression in her stance, and Steve’s defences going up. He won’t crack now, Isla thinks. Not like this.

‘I thought you’d be glad to have it put to rest,’ Steve says, taking a stack of papers from a file.

‘What happened to Mandy?’ Louisa says.

He tries to move past her. ‘I’ve told the police all I know about that.’

‘You told Ray, you mean? Is he a friend of yours, this Ray? Is he the cop who’s leading the case?’

‘I need to get to a meeting.’ He pushes past Louisa and through the open door, where he collides with Isla, sending his papers across the grey carpet.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

Isla waits as he gathers his paperwork. Louisa comes to stand beside her, incensed. Isla holds a hand up to quieten her. She looks down at Steve, crouched at their feet, cornered and scared. She needs to be careful, she thinks. For once in her life, she needs to be calm.