When Frances had gone Theresa made her way upstairs to speak to Lola and Cressida. But she feared she would get no further than the teachers had done.

Once lunch was over, Sally gave herself an hour to refresh herself and then returned to the kitchen and started getting everything ready for the evening service. She did not want to be caught out. She spent the early afternoon becoming familiar with the kitchen and the arrangement of the store-cupboards so that the dinner would go extremely smoothly.

In the light of both Zoe’s and Theresa’s absences, Marcel had postponed his meeting with them to discuss his offer for the restaurant. He knew that their decision had to be unanimous and, without the presence of two pivotal partners, he didn’t want to waste his time. Sally thought there might be an ulterior motive lurking there too. He probably wanted to pounce in the style of agents selling timeshares. He would arrive, make an offer and give them only hours to accept or it would be withdrawn. That kind of thing. And for that ploy to work everyone with a vote had to be present.

Sally placed the last of the glass bowls of mandarin fool into the fridge, ready to be served. The potatoes were parboiled, ready to mash. And she had already chopped the little fat discs of panisse into the same shape as chips, ready to fry.

Through the dining-room door she could hear Benjamin squabbling with William. It was a comforting sound. There was a brief silence then somebody turned on the restaurant’s music, which was about as far from lift muzak as you could get. Most of the songs were French, and had a soft, lilting, relaxing feel, a bit like the music which was played in an upmarket hotel bar. Some Stéphane Grappelli, Hot Club de France, Charles Trenet, and even some modern songs by the likes of Emmanuel Moire and Julien Doré. Music was the signal that the doors would soon open to the public.

Sally swayed to the gentle rhythm as she started work on the breadcrumbs for tonight’s fish dish, a pan-fried merlu – or hake. She glanced at the clock: 6.50. Ten whole minutes till the restaurant opened, and the handful of customers booked this afternoon dribbled in.

She felt rather smug.

She was on top of this.

EIGHT

Theresa sensed that Lola and Cressida were unsettled in more than one way by Chloe’s disappearance.

Cressida sat forlorn on her bed, hugging her teddy bear and sobbing dramatically. Theresa wasn’t sure whether the tears were for missing Chloe or for herself.

Lola was more insouciant. It was obvious to Theresa that she had information which she was holding back.

‘You didn’t see her packing a case then?’ Theresa asked.

Lola shrugged and shook her head.

‘Do you know what she took with her?’

‘How should I know?’ Lola started picking at the duvet cover with paint-stained fingers. ‘She left while we were asleep.’