‘I don’t know but, Leah, I’ll be okay and hospitals are pretty sterile with their antibacterial dispensers everywhere and… I think… I think I’ll be a good mum. I know I said I didn’t want kids but since I’ve found out I feel all… I don’t know.’

‘Maternal?’

‘Yeah. I guess. It feels like a good thing. Not a disaster, you know?’

‘Then I’m happy for you,’ I say and I am. It will be another person in my orbit to worry about, but that’s because I will love this baby as much as I love Tash.

‘Thanks. So how are you? Really? Has there been a letter today?’

‘No. I keep waiting for something to happen. It is “The Day”, but other than the bloody dog nothing has happened.’

‘That’s good. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll feel better.’

‘I’ll feel better when Marie turns up.’

‘Still no word?’

‘No. I know this isn’t out of character for her but… well, she wanted me and Carly to help with the TV thing and we didn’t really listen to her properly. I just hope she has got a tour and isn’t off somewhere feeling let down. Or…’

‘I don’t think she’s been taken. It doesn’t make sense that she would be. Not without you and Carly anyway.’

But that’s what I’m afraid of. That today he’s coming for us too.

‘Mummy!’ Archie calls from the kitchen. ‘Mummy the puppy has done a big wee on the floor.’

I tell Tash I’ll speak to her later and hang up the phone.

By the time I have cleared up and washed the floor three times it is lunchtime. Archie plays with the puppy in the garden. I watch him out of the window while I make us a sandwich. I hope George will be home soon. My phone rings and I brush the crumbs from my gloves before I answer it.

‘How are you holding up today?’ Graham doesn’t bother with pleasantries.

‘Pretty much as expected,’ I say.

‘Look. I did a bit of digging. Not that I think he’s a threat to you or anything but…’

‘But?’

‘I checked the CCTV of the Dog and Duck on the day you think Marie went missing and she was there.’

‘There?’

‘Outside the pub. She was with a man but he had his back to the camera. There’s only one working on that road so you can’t see if she left with him but she didn’t look scared. Sorry I can’t offer anything else. I’ll keep looking into it, I promise. In the meantime don’t do anything stupid. What you did the last time, paying someone to plant evidence to frame him for a crime he hadn’t committed… I can’t turn a blind eye to anything like that again. Understand?’

‘Yes.’ I hang up the phone and sink into my chair, heavy with dread. Closing my eyes, I summon up the image of my twin but instead of seeing her as she is now, I see her as she was then, running furiously towards the man who had me in his grip. Pummelling him with both hands.