When her sister didn’t respond or move, Mia took her mum’s arm and steered her out of the room. ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘I’ll make us all some tea.’

A tear escaped her mum’s eye. Mia watched her grab a tissue from her dressing-gown pocket and dab at her skin so gently that it tore Mia’s heart in two.

‘You shouldn’t have to do this,’ her mum said, following Mia down the hallway. ‘You shouldn’t have to keep solving everyone else’s problems.’

‘You’re not everyone else. You’re my mum.’

‘You know what I mean,’ she answered quietly. ‘You shouldn’t be living like this.’

‘Nor should you,’ Mia said as she reached the kitchen door and turned round. Her mum’s face was blotched red, the skin under her eyes near-transparent, it was so thin. Her arms hung limply by her side, her hands fiddling with the ball of tissue. This was the time her mum should be relaxing and going on cruises, with what little money she had saved over the years, not worrying frantically about her eldest daughter.

And suddenly Mia felt an unbelievable sense of guilt that she hadn’t come straight home from work – a guilt that would shortly battle with a tidal wave of anger that their lives had come to this.

Tuesday 14 May

Interview between DC Emily Marlow and Mia Anderson, following the fire on Monday 13 May

Marlow:Can you tell me where you were last night between the hours of seven p.m. and nine p.m.?

Mia:I was at home. My mum’s house, I mean.

Marlow:For the whole time?

Mia:(pauses) No. Not all of it.

Marlow:So where else did you go?

Mia:I went for a drive. On my own.

Marlow:Anywhere in particular?

Mia:Not specifically, just around the roads.

Marlow:Is that something you often do? Go out for a drive on your own?

Mia:Occasionally. It helps clear my head.

Marlow:So you needed to clear your head last night?

Mia:I was overtired, I think.

Marlow:Was this because of anything to do with work?

Mia:No. Work is fine. It wasn’t important, I just …

Marlow:Yes?

Mia:Sometimes I need to get out of the house. Sometimes it gets too much and I need to be able to breathe.

Marlow:So there was nothing at work troubling you?

Mia:No.

Marlow:It’s just that no one saw you in the office all day yesterday. Monday the thirteenth. Were you at work?

Mia:(shakes head)

Marlow:For the tape recorder, please

Mia:I didn’t go in yesterday, no. I had an appointment I’d forgotten to tell anyone about.

Marlow:So nothing had upset you?

Mia:Why do you keep asking me that? What would have upset me?