Alice and Amy find out how different are their lives from those of the homeless. No sign of Luke.

Radio Times: Alice sees how the other half lives.

Characters: Adam, Alice, Amy, Brian, David, Jennifer

• As Jennifer delights in her birthday cards, Brian gets an unwelcome phone call: Jeff has a cold and will not be coming in today. They consider giving his place at the Health Spa to someone else, Lilian or maybe Alice, but Brian is determined to go.
• It was fun at the start: two young private investigators keeping the streets clean. But Alice and Amy soon find they have bitten off more than they can chew; dressed up, and with her purse full of Christmas money, Alice is an easy target and soon ends up £30 the poorer. She wishes she hadn’t come but Amy reckons to have seen a bit more of the real world and welcomes her to it. This is how Luke lives all the time, for real; she wants to find him.
• Meanwhile at the Health Spa Brian is enjoying a wonderful indulgent day with his wife and smells like a tart’s boudoir. What a good job Eddie could cover.
• Adam was getting quite worried about Alice; when she returns in tears she agrees to tell him the story only if he promises not to say anything to her parents. Out it pours, meeting the truant Amy behind the cricket pavilion, travelling to Hollerton junction in a taxi, asking people on the streets of Felpersham about Luke and finally seeking out a hostel – closed during the daytime even in cold winter days. It was at the back of the hostel that she was mugged. Adam is ready to call the police but Alice doesn’t want that. At least she has been moved by the revolting conditions in which some people have to live but exposing herself to volatile situations will not help Luke. She must never do it again.