Harriet Watson placed the small dish of seedless grapes and sliced strawberries on the desk in front of Evie and beamed. ‘A nice snack I prepared for you earlier.’

Evie looked at the fruit but didn’t touch it.

‘So, what do you say?’ Harriet prompted her.

‘Thank you,’ Evie muttered.

‘Well, aren’t you going to eat it?’

The child picked up a seedless grape, inspected it and popped it into her mouth. ‘We’re going to McDonald’s for tea.’

Harriet’s stomach burned. ‘Fast food will rot your innards,’ she said tightly. ‘Your mother shouldn’t be taking you to those places.’

‘It’s a treat.’ Evie frowned. ‘It’s my favourite.’

‘Fast food contains very high levels of sugar and salt,’ Harriet told her. ‘If you eat too much of it, your taste buds will only want that sort of food and you can even become addicted.’

Evie looked at her. ‘It’s just a treat.’

‘Anyway, enough about that. I’d like to get to know you a little better, Evie. You can start by telling me all about your friends at your old school.’

Evie popped another grape in her mouth and took her time chewing it.

‘I’d like to know their names and the sorts of things you used to do together.’

‘My best friends are Daisy, Nico and Martha,’ said Evie, perking up a bit. ‘We used to play together at break and eat our lunch together. And we sat next to each other at story time, too.’

‘How lovely,’ Harriet remarked. ‘You said they are your best friends but they’re not, anymore, are they?’

‘They are,’ Evie replied swiftly. ‘They are my best friends.’

‘But you never see them. They live back in Hemel Hempstead.’ Harriet’s voice dropped lower. ‘I heard they have a new little girl as their friend now. I’m afraid she took your place when you moved house.’

‘They’re still my friends.’ Evie pushed away the bowl of fruit. ‘Mummy says we might go and see them soon.’

‘Oh, I think Mummy might just be saying that to make you feel better.’ Harriet smiled. ‘She’s always promising things that never quite happen, isn’t she?’

Evie thought for a moment but she didn’t respond.

‘You see, it’s no use getting upset about losing your friends, because you left them, didn’t you? You left all your friends behind to come and live here, in Nottingham.’

‘I didn’t want to,’ Evie said, knotting her fingers together on top of the desk. ‘I didn’t want to live at Muriel Crescent.’

‘But Mummy wouldn’t listen, would she?’

Evie looked at Harriet, a mournful expression on her face.

‘And neither would your Nanny,’ Harriet went on. ‘It was all your Nanny’s idea, you know, taking you away from your friends and moving you up here. Did you know that?’

Evie gave a slight shake of her head and stared down at her fidgeting hands.

‘Mummy and Nanny don’t tell you things because they think you’re just a silly little girl,’ Harriet told her. ‘But I will tell you the truth, Evie. I am your friend and you can always trust me because I know what’s best for you.’

Evie didn’t speak.

‘Do you understand? I am your friend and you can tell me anything you like in our little sessions together.’ Harriet crossed her chest. ‘I won’t tell anyone what you say, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die. Do you promise, too?’

Evie sat very still and then nodded.

‘Pardon?’

‘Yes.’

‘Because if you’re a very good girl, I might be able to get your friends to come up to Nottingham and see you,’ Harriet said brightly. ‘Would you like that?’

Evie nodded.

‘Sorry?’ Harriet cupped her ear.

‘Yes, Miss Watson.’

‘Excellent. Now, tell me about Mummy’s friends.’

Evie began to hum.

‘Kindly stop playing with your fingers and look at me.’

Evie spread out her palms and pressed them into the table. She looked up at Harriet. ‘She just has Nanny.’

‘There are no friends who Mummy meets for coffee or who come to the house to chat with her?’

Evie considered this and shook her head. ‘Just Nanny.’

‘And did Mummy have friends when you lived at your old house?’

Evie nodded. ‘Paula and Tara.’

‘Paula and Tara,’ Harriet repeated. ‘But Mummy doesn’t see them anymore?’

‘No. She hasn’t got any friends anymore, just Nanny.’

‘Perfect.’ Harriet smiled. ‘Well, isn’t this nice, chatting together, just you and me?’

‘Yes,’ Evie replied blankly.

‘Perhaps I could be Mummy and Nanny’s friend too.’

‘Nanny doesn’t like you,’ Evie said quickly. ‘Because you’re over a bear ring.’

‘Is that what she says?’ Harriet’s smile fell away. ‘Overbearing? Now, that is interesting. And did Nanny say anything else about me?’

‘She said you weren’t a proper teacher like Miss Akhtar.’

‘I’m afraid that’s a common error lots of people make,’ Harriet said, tapping her fingertips on the table. ‘But I am a proper teacher. You know that, don’t you, Evie?’

Evie studied Miss Watson’s steely eyes and the taut curve of her mouth that was supposed to look like a smile but didn’t.

‘Yes,’ she said.