‘You know I found the mirror? There was something in the floorboards underneath it.’ I tell her about the way I had tugged at the feather, the weight of the stone and how the keys didn’t fit any doors in the house. ‘Rav says it’s an old homemade keyring but I don’t think so.’

Naomi is quiet for a moment and then she says, ‘I think you’re exhausted, Allie. I think you’re tired, your body has been through a huge upheaval, and on top of that you’re still getting used to living here. You don’t have support from your mum, and Rav is working hard.’

When Naomi puts it like that, without that undertone of scepticism that I get from Rav, it feels almost rational.

‘Maybe I should take the kids off your hands for a few hours,’ Naomi says when I don’t tell her she’s wrong, ‘when the new girl is back from being sick. I can look after them for the day, even overnight if you want. Mina can sleep in with me and the baby can go in the Moses basket; they can stay at the flat. There’s plenty of room. Then you can get some sleep and start feeling more like your old self. No one said you have to do this on your own.’

‘No.’ I am shaking my head before she has even finished speaking.

‘Or I could stay with you,’ she offers, hope written all over her face. ‘We could get a takeaway, then I’ll get up with Leo in the night.’

‘I’m OK, Naomi, honestly. You’re probably right, I just need to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll ask Rav to get up with the baby tonight.’ As if on cue Leo wakes with a thin, reedy cry and I lift him from the pram and attach him once again.

‘Maybe you should consider seeing the doctor?’ Naomi says, watching as the baby gulps greedily. ‘Just to … I don’t know, check everything is all right. That you’re all right.’

‘I told you I’m fine, Naomi.’ The words tumble out of my mouth as sharp, angry knives. ‘I don’t need to see a doctor.’

‘OK, OK. I just thought, you know … if you’re not sleeping very well with these nightmares, and then seeing things …’

‘I’m not “seeing things”. I did see someone in the woods.’ I unlatch the baby before he is finished and call to Mina to give me my phone as we’re going home, ignoring her grumbling response.

‘But what Miranda said to you about Aileen Gowdie seems to have really unsettled you.’ Naomi stands in the doorway as I try to squeeze the pram past her.