I don’t know why I did that. My super-soft heart, I suppose? But also, I remembered that little giggle from before and Noah’s intuitive appraisal of her. My gut was telling me that this woman was someone that I might get on with, given half a chance. She certainly seemed harmless enough, and anyway, what did I have to do except waste my evening watching shitty Saturday night TV with the kids?

The woman looked at me, hesitated for a moment, and then her face lit up and she smiled. It was a real smile that started in her eyes and then cascaded down her cheeks until she was grinning like a mad thing. Then she crossed the road, opened the little metal gate and walked up the path to where I was standing.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked when she got close enough. ‘I mean, for all you know I might be a psychopath.’

‘Are you a psychopath?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she replied.

‘Well, that’s all right then,’ I said, rolling my eyes and grinning at her. ‘Come in.’

‘Thank you so much,’ said the woman.

She had a really posh voice, with no trace of an accent. I sound quite posh too, or that’s what they always said at school anyway. I don’t have much of a north-east accent even though my mum spoke pure Geordie. But this woman had no accent at all. She sounded a lot like the Queen, in fact.

‘I’m Clio,’ she added. ‘Clio Montgomery Smith.’

She held out a hand. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I mean, it’s not like my mates ever shake hands, but I wasn’t brought up in a cave either, so I took her hand and shook it.

‘Bloody hell,’ I said. ‘That’s a mouthful. It must take you forever to fill in forms.’

Clio giggled again. It was a light sound that made her seem both mischievous and much younger than she looked.

‘I hold my parents completely to blame,’ she said. ‘I have a middle name, too, but if I tell you that you might not let me in.’

I was intrigued, but I wasn’t going to ask. ‘I’m just Leah,’ I said. ‘One name. Four letters. Simple.’