I stand aimlessly outside the pub on the corner of the road while Freya paces back and forth, making calls. ‘Still can’t get hold of her?’ I ask when she finally hangs up.

‘She’s not answering. Probably thinks she’s said too much already.’

‘Maybe someone knows where she might have gone?’ I suggest.

‘Like who?’

‘I don’t know. The barman?’

Freya looks at the closed doors. ‘Wait here,’ she mutters. I can see how irritated she is, and I am too. The fact that Iona had gone to Evergreen looking for a sister has thrown her story wide open.

When she returns, Freya’s shaking her head. ‘He says he doesn’t know where she lives but she comes here most days.’ She glances at her phone again. ‘But that doesn’t help. I have to get home. It’s my grandad’s ninetieth tomorrow.’

‘I could stay,’ I suggest.

Freya looks at me quizzically.

‘I mean, I could find somewhere for the night and try again tomorrow. I’ve got nothing I need to rush back for.’

‘You want to do that?’

I shrug. If I want to find out who Iona was looking for, I have no choice. ‘It can’t be far from where my parents used to live. I could look around the place, see where they grew up.’

‘Okay. Well,’ Freya hesitates. ‘Call me as soon as you talk to her.’

‘I will.’

She nods at the pub. ‘And don’t speak to any strange men.’

It’s nearly six p.m. by the time I’ve collected my car and checked into a Premier Inn near Shirley. I’ve bought essential toiletries and figure that once I’ve eaten I’ll have an early night before looking around the area in the morning, to try and find Gran’s old house. Once alone in my room, I try calling Bonnie. It doesn’t surprise me that I haven’t had one call from her in the last forty-eight hours. She is holding back on me so that I’ll go running to her, and if I leave it much longer, it will only be worse. I’m apprehensive as I tap on her contact, dreading the thought I’ll hear in her voice that she’s had a drink. When her mobile rings out I hang up and try the landline, but still there’s no answer.

Exhausted, I run a bath. Sliding into the hot water, I breathe out a sigh as it begins to release the ache in my muscles. With everything that’s been going on lately, I knew I’d risk Bonnie slipping away from me, and I hate that I’ve allowed her to.