Instinct telling her to proceed with caution, Lisa peered through the lounge window. Poppy was standing in the middle of the room, one hand twisting her hair into tight ringlets, her thumb plugged in her mouth. Lisa tapped lightly on the glass. Finally managing to attract the little girl’s attention, she smiled encouragingly and gestured towards the front door.

Peering through the letter flap, Lisa mentally crossed her fingers as Poppy cautiously approached. The girl looked traumatised. She desperately didn’t want to scare her. ‘Hello, Poppet,’ she whispered, hoping to put her at her ease. ‘Where’s Mummy, sweetheart?’

‘Sleeping,’ Poppy said, around the thumb she was still sucking nervously on.

Leaving her daughter wandering around on her own? Whatever shit Mel had been through, however depressed she was supposed to be, the Mel Lisa knew would never do that.

‘I need to see her, Poppy, urgently. Do you understand?’

Poppy nodded. Her eyes were full of trepidation. Picturing her own daughter at that age, feeling how she was feeling, Lisa prayed inwardly. ‘Do you think you could be a big girl, Poppy, and help me?’

Again, Poppy nodded.

‘Good girl,’ Lisa said. ‘I need you to open the door, Poppy. Can you reach it?’

Poppy gave another short nod, before she promptly turned around and scooted towards the kitchen.

Not sure where she’d gone, or whose unwanted attention she might attract, Lisa prayed harder, and then blew out a sigh of relief as Poppy reappeared, dragging a chair slowly but determinedly behind her. ‘I have to do the bolt.’ she said.

Minutes later, Lisa was in, immediately crouching to pull Poppy into a hug. ‘Well done. Daddy will be so proud of you,’ she said, close to her ear. ‘Now, I need you to do something else for me, Poppy.’

Taking her personal mobile from her pocket, Lisa eased back, holding the little girl’s gaze with a reassuring one of her own. ‘I want you to go to the lounge and stay there. If you hear or see anything that worries you, I want you to press nine three times on my phone, and then the green call button. Can you do that?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Poppy’s nod was resolute.

‘Show me where the nine is, honey.’ Lisa held the phone up and Poppy duly pointed.

‘Good girl,’ Lisa said, a wave of relief washing through her. ‘Tell them who you are and don’t end the call until Daddy’s friends get here. Promise?’

‘Promise.’ Poppy crossed her heart.

Hoping to God she would be safer there than wandering about outside on her own, Lisa steered her gently in the direction of the lounge, quickly checked the other downstairs rooms – the kitchen, downstairs cloakroom and study – and then made her way quietly upwards. Poppy’s bedroom door was open; the nursery door too. That room was empty, obviously. Lisa’s heart constricted.

The main bedroom door was closed. Beyond that was Jade’s room, she assumed. The door was ajar, too tempting an invitation for a detective. Praying a floorboard wouldn’t squeak at the crucial moment, Lisa headed that way, aiming to have covered all bases before going into Mel’s bedroom.

Jade’s things were still there, everything neat and tidy. Way too tidy. Lisa noted the lipsticks on the dresser, lined up like soldiers on parade, the bed made up to hospital standards. Bypassing the dresser in favour of the wardrobe, Lisa flicked through the few clothes hanging there; Mel’s mostly, apart from the skimpy babysitting gear the girl was fond of wearing.

Lisa glanced upwards. Seeing a shoebox on the top shelf, she checked over her shoulder and then lifted it quietly out. It was stuffed full of memorabilia – pieces of jewellery, odd bits of make-up, a few old photographs. Lisa wasn’t surprised, until she came across one photograph in particular: a little girl, aged around four. A little girl Lisa wasn’t likely to forget. But she was very much alive in this picture, giggling as she posed with her older sister, a one-eyed Pooh Bear clutched close to her chest.

Lisa dug deeper, finding a stash of what she recognised as antipsychotic drugs. Her blood ran cold.

A sick feeling in her gut, in her soul, Lisa turned, charging towards the main bedroom. Pausing only long enough to register Melissa lying unmoving on the bed, she sprinted across the room, fumbling to call it in as she went. Shaking Melissa with one hand, she’d got as far as telling the police operator they needed to check out the babysitter when an almighty crack to the back of the skull cut her call short.