AS THE meal ended Lily came to say that Justin was wanted on the phone. Guessing that he would now be gone for some time, Evie agreed to Mark’s suggestion that they go to his room and, with a sudden burst of inspiration, she signalled a question to Lily. Receiving a nod in return, she scooped up a couple of puppies and followed Mark upstairs.

Now he was more relaxed, chatting about the dogs and what fun he had taking photographs of them.

‘Can I see?’ Evie asked at once.

Of course he owned the very latest state-of-the-art digital camera, and handled it like an expert.

‘I’m green with envy.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t work mine and it’s much simpler than yours.’

‘It’s easy,’ he said innocently.

‘Yeah, for some people!’

He giggled. ‘Dad can’t understand this one either. He gets so mad.’

Mark switched on the computer and called up pictures of the dogs. He had, apparently, taken dozens every day, almost obsessively, reinforcing Evie’s feeling that this child lived inside himself far too much.

‘Don’t you have any pics of your friends?’ she asked.

He shrugged uneasily. ‘I haven’t lived here long. I don’t know many people.’

‘But you had a house nearby.’

‘We moved when Mum left. Dad bought this place. He said he never wanted to see that house again. And I changed schools.’

‘Your mother left?’

‘Yes, she went away and didn’t come back. I’ve got some more pictures here-’