Diana pulled over and grabbed the road map from the glove compartment and spread it out over the steering wheel in front of her. The cars navigational device had long since stopped directing. It was as if the Flawed areas were invisible, with the device instructing her to stop immediately and turn around. The device informed her that the area she was now in was deemed "not recommended for visitation." Even the monotone, electronic voice was a Percentagist!

Starting at her own sleepy neighbourhood, she traced the route she has taken so far; from the luxurious domestic idyll of the Top- Five, to the steel and glass maze of the central business district and on through a succession of ever deteriorating housing estates. Noticing a chip in the magenta polish on her nail, she inspected her finger closely and picked at the varnish a little more. It flaked off in large pieces and she watched it fall onto her lap; the nail bed beneath, revealed to be stained and cracked. Diana would need to get veneers added next time to hide away the imperfections. .

Having located her exact position, she looked for the Green's address. Diana had asked for their address on the day that Hannah was relocated. At the time John had suggested sending them a fruit basket or something equally useful by way of a thank you for raising their daughter. But now she was grateful she'd forgotten to do so, realising how horribly inappropriate such a gesture would have been. Thanks for looking after my daughter, here have some fruit in consolation. Diana closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. The contents of the bottle she had consumed earlier were making their presence felt.

Having found the location, Diana put the car into drive and pulled out, her steering wheel jerking in her hands as she drove over the badly maintained road surface. Diana had never been to this part of town before and it was far worse than she'd imagined. Small, boarded up terrace houses lined each side of the streets, their walls covered with graffiti, providing a striking, colourful contrast to the grey and depressed. The slogans ranged from the relatively polite, "people not points" and "parity not percentages", to vulgar and downright menacing threats against General Briggs and the Top- Five in general. Diana wondered why the Council hadn't come along and cleaned it up.

Diana approached an old school building. The original, ornate structure must have been stunning in its day, with its high arched windows and round stone columns. The former schools motto, "Learning for all, is progress for all" was carved into the stonework above the main entrance. A large sheet of metal now in front of the old doors bore another motto. Scratched into its surface were the words, "Learning for the few, means the rest of us are left to rot". Diana was reminded of her own schooling at Moreton Academy. The building had been equally impressive, but there she was given every opportunity to learn alongside her privileged peer group, but unlike her school which still educated the privileged, here every window has been broken and the roof had even caved-in further along. Now the school before her sat eerily empty, surrounded by a high wire fence, barbed wire atop. Feeling chilled, Diane, turned up the heating in the car.

Further on, Diana passed a grocery store. A line of people queued out of the door and along the pavement. The road surface degraded further and she slowed her vehicle, carefully steering to avoid the holes and miscellaneous objects that lay strewn across it. Barely faster than a walking speed, she looked at the people waiting to buy provisions. Mothers held onto their children tightly, an old woman with a cane swayed a little and grabbed hold of an over spilling refuse bin, so not to fall down. On the empty street, the purr of her cars engine seemed to attract attention and many in the queue turned to look at her. A young man caught her eye. His penetrating stare made her feel a little more nervous and she pressed down on a button and the door locked itself. The young man must have heard the lock click shut and he shouted something at her. Diana averted her eyes, focusing on the road ahead. Something collided with her rear window; the heavy thud causing the glass to implode. Too scared to worry about the sharp shrapnel that now covered her, she pressed down hard on the accelerator and the small black coupe surged away. In her rear view mirror she saw the young man stood in the middle of the road laughing. Fighting her basic instinct to flee home, Diana drove on, gripping the steering wheel tightly so that she couldn't see her hands shake.

Finally she reached her destination, or so she thought. Pulling over, she checked the map again. It was indeed the correct street. Diana got out of the car, buttoned up her coat and walked down the street, counting the house numbers as she went; 41A, 42A, 43A, 44A and so on, the numbers on the opposite side mirroring these except the A was replaced with the letter B. The numbers stopped at 52 on either side of the road. What should have been 58A, Hannah's former home, was no more. Left in its place, was a large area, piled with building rubble and broken furnishings. Diana wondered whether the area was being cleared for redevelopment. She looked up and down the road. In the distance she could see where the housing began again, but it was a long way off on foot, so she walked back down till she got to 52A. The small house was clearly occupied. A thin plume of smoke rose from the chimney pot and as she lowered her eyes to the front door, she saw the curtain twitch in the front window. Diana took a deep breath and knocked.

"Go away!" A woman's voice shouted at her from behind the door

"Please," Diana said, knocking again. "I am looking for someone and it is urgent I speak with them."

"We don't want none of your sort 'ere." The woman opened the door, brandishing a poker. "Now clear off!"

Diana jumped backwards as the poker was jabbed in her direction. "Sorry to have bothered you.

Confidence knocked, Diana walked past several houses before she found another door that she felt slightly more comfortable knocking on. The sound of a small child giggling inside made her smile. She tapped lightly on the door and it opened to reveal a small girl, with tight curly black hair, her face sticky with jam.

"Hello," the small child said, extremely politely.

"And hello to you, too. What's your name, lovely?" Diana asked.

"My name is Martha and I'm four."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Martha. Is your mummy in?"

"I don't have a mummy."

"Well, is your daddy in then?"

"Nope." Martha shook her head fiercely. "Daddy working." The little girl sighed, seemingly boring of the conversation.

"Oh, so who is looking after you?"

"My nan-nan."

"Well, isn't that lovely," Diana replied, more than a little relieved to know the little girl wasn't by herself. "Well, could I please speak to her then?"

Martha screwed up her face and looked up at Diana for a moment.

"Okay then, Nan-nan!" Martha called at the top of her voice.

"What is it, Martha? Oh!" A short, tubby woman, with equally tight curls, but in various shade of grey, rushed over to the door and grabbed hold of Martha, ushering her back into the room. "We paid the rent yesterday, so we did. You didn't need to come a knocking again."

"No, no, you have the wrong idea. I'm not here for any rent."

"So what is it this time, then? We don't want a loan and we haven't got any money to buy anything with."

Diana shook her head. "No, let me start again. I'm not here for money or to sell you anything. My name is Diana Page and I am looking for someone and I wondered if you could help."

The old woman, pulled a face similar to the one Martha had pulled a little earlier. "It depends on who you're looking for," she answered.

"I'm looking for Dan and Lynne Green."

"And do you be wanting with them?"

"Hannah, their daughter, is missing and I want to know if they've seen her."

"Hannah is missing! Come inside, quickly."

The woman backed into the room and Diana entered and closed the door behind her.

"Hannah is missing, since when?"

"Some time last night. I've tried calling everyone I know, but no one has seen her. I thought maybe, she might have come back here."

"You're her, aren't you, Hannah's real mother? You've a lot of nerve coming here and bothering these good folks, after all they've been through."

Diana lowered her eyes away from the fiery stare of the short woman. "I suppose I have, but I really do care for her and I'm very worried right now. Do you know how I can contact them?"

The woman considered Diana briefly and then instructed her to sit down.

"Wait here. Martha, you come with me."

Martha waved at Diana as they left the room, closing the door behind them.

Diana walked around the room. It was tiny, dimly lit, and in need of redecoration, but tidy and what little possessions they owned were displayed proudly on the mantel piece. Diana sat down on a small armchair by the fire and waited.

After a few minutes, the door flung open and a large man rushed in and loomed towards her. Diana stood up quickly.

"Hannah's missing," he asked.

Diana nodded. "Are you Dan Green?"

"I am. I know who you are; I've seen your picture in the paper with Hannah's."

"So she hasn't come back here then?"

"No. "

"Have you heard from her?"

"No."

"Has your wife?"

Dan laughed, but his face showed no signs of hilarity. "That would be difficult on account of Briggs having her in custody."

"Why, what did she do?" Diana asked, concerned even more for Hannah.

"Spoken like a true Perfect," Dan spat back. "You don't have to do anything here, to get taken. But then you wouldn't know that, would you?"

She began to apologise, but Dan interrupted before she could continue. "When did you last see her? How was she? Do you know if she is with anyone?"

"I saw her last night, but she was tired and went to bed early. She was been a bit withdrawn. She had an argument with my son, but that was soon resolved. Edward actually saw her go out around eleven pm and she hasn't been seen since. I rang her friend Tuckers, parents. He hasn't been back either, but that isn't something new for them. Hannah on the other hand, is always home in the evenings.

Dan winced as Diana said the word home. She made a mental note to watch her use of words from now on.

"And didn't your son think to ask Hannah where she was going at that time?"

"No, no he didn't. Edward is having a hard time adjusting."

"Aren't we all," Dan replied, bitterly. "So, this Tucker person, are they going together or something?" His voice was full of fatherly concern and it felt strange hearing it. John was far less emotional about things, but up until now she had put his remoteness down to the fact that having a daughter was a recent thing. Now it niggled at her and she didn't know why.

"No, nothing like that, they're just good friends. He also made it clear that girls aren't his preference at the reunion event. On live TV too, much to the distaste of his new parents sadly. "

"Well then, that probably leaves us just one destination and I hope to goodness she didn't go there."

"Who, where?"

"She might have gone to find Shane's family."

"Who is Shane?" Diana asked. She had never heard Hannah mention a Shane before.

"Shane is...was... Hannah's boyfriend and best friend, but he was murdered the day before she moved to live with you. She blames herself entirely for his death."

Diana sat back down in the chair and placed her head in her hands. "I didn't know, she never ..."

All this time, Hannah had been concealing the death of a loved one and she'd never mentioned it. Whilst Diana was busy homemaking, trying to convince everyone that everything was normal and okay, Hannah was grieving and she hadn't even noticed. What kind of mother am I?

"I need to make a few calls." Dan walked towards the door.

"But if he was Hannah's boyfriend, why are you concerned if she went to see his parents?" Diana asked.

"That's because, they blame her too. Who do you think was behind the attack the other night? I went along and tried to warn her, but my girl is so stubborn at times." Tear filled his eyes and he took a deep breath. "I'll be back, wait here."

Diana nodded and looked down at her hands, but she didn't see the nail varnish. Her palms were splayed open, resting on her knees. Once upon a time, she could have used those very hands to cradle her, sweet baby girl, but she and John had rejected her. They made the wrong decision then, of that she was certain. And if they were lucky to now find Hannah, safe and sound, it would be the wrong decision again to expect Hannah to come back to them. She looked back over the last few weeks and saw Hannah going through the motions. It was all an act. She wasn't happy and she certainly wasn't home. Diana had known it all along, but she hadn't wanted to believe it.

Diana then swore to herself, that as soon as she found Hannah, she would release her. She would tell her to stay away. She would tell John and Briggs too and anyone else who cared. She had given her up once before. She would do it again, no matter what the cost.

After nearly an hour, Dan came back.

"They do have her. It's taken some doing, and I've pulled in every favour owed to me, but I think I know where they are. We need to get going."

Diana looked up. "Are you sure you want me to come?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No, not really. I have my car outside, we can use that."

"Okay, let's go."

Diana followed Dan out of the front door. On the chair where she had been sat, was a small pile of money. Not too much, but enough to pay to keep a roof over Martha's head for the next couple of months at least.

Dan and Diana headed back up the street to where she had parked.

"My car," she cried out, "It's gone! My bag and phone were inside too."

"So I take it yours was the little black one with the window smashed at the back."

"Yes, did you see who took it?"

"I didn't, but there isn't a hope in hell of you getting that back. Cars like that are rich pickings to the like of us here. Are you coming?"

Diana looked at the spot where her car had been standing. She had been stupid even bringing it here. But the car, the designer handbag and the phone were easily replaceable. Hannah wasn't. "I'm coming," she replied and ran to catch up with him.