‘They said we’d get a new start,’ I say, rubbing bile from off my cheek on to my knee. ‘Both of us were supposed to. They gave me a new name, money, flat, everything. Kayleigh went to a foster family, then another, and another … and before long she didn’t want to see me, or be reminded of anything to do with her past. And we were deliberately kept separate, so our new identities wouldn’t be compromised. In the end, it was only because one of the social workers kept bringing me information when she shouldn’t have that I ever knew how she was doing. I should have known there was more to it than just settling down … I kept being told how she needed to break the link with her past but I knew, I knew she would never forget what we had, what I gave her, even if she was too young to physically remember it. It’s been years since I’ve seen her. I don’t even know who or where she is now … only that it was all a pack of lies, from the word go—’

‘Christ,’ he interrupts, brow furrowed as he grips my shoulders, looking over his shoulder then back at me.

‘So you need to tell me everything,’ I say, finally lifting my head. ‘Where did you get that photo? There’s only one reason you could possibly have it now, after everything Jaqlin said at that press conference. What do you know about what happened to that little girl?’

‘Let me just get this straight,’ he says, eyes darting. ‘You didn’t know Parish was your dad when you—’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I never knew him. Ma moved on to about a million other blokes after he died. Jason didn’t know him either, I’m sure 227of it. Then again, he totally bought into the military – hook, line and sinker, like everyone else in Warchester.’

‘Sergeant Jason Gates? He was your brother?’

My neck buckles as I try to nod. I remember Dominic will have read the case files. There was never any question that Jason would be spared a monumental jail term. He knew exactly what he was doing, even if he didn’t understand what, or who he was doing it for.

‘Just tell me, Dominic. Please…’ I drop my head again, stop trying. ‘What do you know about her, about Kayleigh? I need to know what really happened before I…’

‘She’s everything,’ he says, words floating on the engine’s song. ‘She’s the link … I just haven’t been able to believe it till now. She…’

He stops as I look up, and takes a deep breath.