She went to the housing office at nine.

River was already gone when she woke up — his side of the room neat, his desk clear, the biscuits still on the windowsill — and she got dressed and went downstairs and joined the queue that had formed outside the housing office door before it even opened.

There were four people ahead of her.

By nine fifteen she was at the window.

The woman behind it had the expression of someone who had already dealt with three problems this morning and was not surprised to be dealing with a fourth.

"Name?" she said.

"Maxine Cole. Max. I'm in Room 14 of...