Madeleine McCann complained to her mum Kate that she was left crying and alone the night before she disappeared , it has emerged.
The three-year-old "puzzled" her parents at the breakfast table the next morning in Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal.
She asked them: "Mummy, why didn’t you come when we were crying last night?"
Maddie was referring to herself and Sean, her brother, whom was also left alone.
And hours later, Maddie disappeared from Apartment 5A of the Ocean Beach complex as her parents enjoyed dinner just metres away in May 2007.
Speaking since in her 2011 book, Kate, 51, referenced the heartbreaking question.
The mum, of Loughborough, Leicestershire, wrote: "We were puzzled, did she mean when they were having a bath, or when they had gone to bed?
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“It certainly had not been in the early hours because I’d been in the room with them.
“Madeleine didn’t answer or elaborate, instead she moved onto some other topic that had popped into her head.”
In the book, Kate went on to detail how the remark had made her wonder if her daughter had cried while they were out for dinner.
She added: “Gerry and I were disconcerted, could Madeleine and Sean have woken up while we were at dinner?
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“If so, it was worrying, obviously, but it did not seem probable.
“As I’ve said, not only did they rarely stir at all at night, but if they did it was hardly ever, and I mean ever, before the early hours.
“If they had done so on this occasion, it would mean they had woken up, cried for a while, calmed themselves down and fallen asleep again.”
It comes as the controversial Netflix series "The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann" has attempted to shed some light on the 12-year mystery.
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But the McCanns have blasted the show and do not believe it will aid their search .
A statement on behalf of the couple argues the show could hinder police investigations.
It reads: "We did not see – and still do not see – how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and, particularly given there is an active police investigation, it could potentially hinder it.
"Consequently, our views and preferences are not reflected in the programme.
"We will not be making any further statements or giving interviews regarding this programme."
