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“Why you always loved him more than me?”

She had barely known those words were coming, and a part of her regretted them as soon as she’d spoken them. But another part of her feltrelieved—as though she’d been carrying this resentment for such a long time and had finally managed to cast some of it out of her. When her mother understood what she’d said, her face started to crumple. But then she caught herself. She looked down at the cane and began turning it round carefully in her grip. There was something about the movement that suggested all the mistakes of her life—all its disappointments and regrets—were playing out in her mind at once.

“Oh, Katie—” she started.

But then she looked up, over Katie’s shoulder. At the same time, Katiewas aware of the light in the room shifting, and she turned to see shadows flitting across the closed curtains.

Footsteps in the garden outside.

And then a moment later, the doorbell rang.

“Wait here,” her mother said.

She turned and disappeared, hobbling awkwardly out of sight down the corridor. With her heart beating faster, Katie crossed the room to the doorway and listened as best she could. Her mother opened the front door.

“Mrs. Shaw?”

A woman’s voice.

“Yes,” her mother said. “We met the other day.”

“That’s right. Detective Pettifer. This is my colleague Sergeant Reece. We’re trying to locate your daughter, Katie.”

“Why? What’s happened?”

Her mother was old and frail, and Katie imagined she was still leaning on her cane for support, but there was the same firmness to her voice she remembered from childhood.

“We’d just very much like to talk to her. And your son as well, of course.”

“I told you I’ve not heard from him in years.”

“What about your daughter?”

Katie leaned against the doorframe.

Waiting.

“She came by yesterday,” her mother said. “I’ve not seen her since.”

“Why was she here?” the woman asked.

“She brings me my shopping. That’s about the only real contact we have anymore. Just doing her duty. She’ll be at home now, I’d guess. You might want to try there.”

If it wasn’t for the cane, Katie could imagine her mother folding her arms at that. There was a moment of silence, and then she heard the distant sound of a radio crackling. It was followed a few seconds later by the noise of feedback, and then quiet and muffled conversation.

She listened carefully.

“Okay,” she heard someone saying quietly. “Okay.”

Then more loudly:

“We’re sorry to have bothered you, Mrs. Shaw. If you do hear from either of your children, we’d very much appreciate you letting us know.”

“Of course.”

A moment later, shadows passed back across the curtains behind her again. She heard the front door close and then the rattle of the chain. She stepped back into the room and waited until her mother appeared back in the doorway again.

“The police are looking for you,” she said.