‘You’re freezing! What happened? Are you hurt? What is your name?’

The girl didn’t respond.

‘Joe, I think she’s hypothermic. She’s not responding.’

‘Got it!’

Annie returned her attention to the girl as she listened to her husband detailing their predicament to the emergency services.

Her sons returned across the field and brought a thick picnic blanket, a chocolate bar and an umbrella.

‘To shelter her from the wind, Mum,’ Callum said.

Annie smiled at her son. ‘Thank you.’

The wind whistled around them and the girl still said nothing. She sat cossetted, huddled between the strangers, but showed no emotion or any semblance of cognisance. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes, hours, but finally, they heard a heavy vehicle and spotted blue lights in the distance. Its sirens were quiet as it drove quickly up the dark lane.

‘I’ll go,’ said Joe. He sprinted across the field, aware that he was running in sheep shit, and reached the vehicle. Two paramedics got out and he gave them as lucid and sensible a report as he could. After all, he didn’t know much, apart from they’d found a naked girl shivering behind a stone in the middle of nowhere.

The ambulance personnel retrieved a stretcher from the vehicle and ran across the field. The sun was peeking over the horizon, behind the mountains, and Joe could see his family, huddled behind the stone. A police car drove up the lane and parked behind the ambulance and two uniformed officers got out. They were greeted by the remaining medic in the ambulance and exchanged words, then turning their attention to Joe. He told them what he knew and they nodded, peering towards the field.

‘Do you know the woman?’

‘No. I came up here with my family to see the sun rise.’

‘So you don’t know how she got here?’

‘No.’

They took his personal details and made their way to the field, where the woman was being treated.

‘She’s freezing half to death!’ He followed them. The two policemen said nothing. When they reached the scene, the girl was shaking and the paramedics were sticking needles into her and loading her onto the stretcher. Joe put his arm around Annie and told the boys they should go back to the car.

‘Can we go home, officer?’ he asked.

‘We’ll take statements from you first, if that’s all right, sir. Go and get warm in your car and we’ll be with you shortly.’

Joe led his family away and they climbed into the car. Callum kept looking back.

‘Don’t worry, Callum, she’s just cold. She’ll be all right,’ Annie soothed. When they reached the car, Joe started the engine and put the heating on full. They sat in silence.

Chapter 2