Claire stood there, quivering, feeling sickness rising in her again. Tears starting to dribble down her face as she stared at him, so beloved, so familiar. Her Josh. His hair disordered by the gusting wind, his face solemn. But . . . she couldn’t approach him. She couldn’t let him know she was here. She was filthy, soiled now. Used and discarded by those monsters. And Shauna had said to stay away. If she didn’t, if she so much as spoke to him, what else might happen to her? They might come at her again. Hurt her. Abuse her. Her whole body shuddered with terror at the thought. They’d already killed Blue. They could kill her, too. And Mum. Dad. Trace. They were all three still there at the campsite, unaware. Sitting ducks. She couldn’t put them in danger. They might even hurt Josh – against the three of them, and their old man, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

No.

As Josh got out and the taxi drove away, as he walked up to the front door, she thought that Mum and Dad must have given him this address in the hope that she would be here. And – so nearly – she would have been. But by going to the shops first she’d missed him by inches.

Thank God.

Ireland wasn’t far enough. He’d tracked her down in days. She couldn’t let that happen again, she had to go further. She started walking, faster and faster, away from Josh, away from Delmege Park. She had to get out of here. Before long, she was running and she only slowed down when she got to a small shopping centre.

Trying to calm herself, tormented by the sight of Josh there, looking so anxious and unhappy, she gazed in shop windows, hardly seeing a thing until she came across a travel agent. There was a picture of a vast city in the window, buildings forming canyons between the streets. She stared at the picture for a long time. Then she pushed the door open and went inside.

26

26

Josh had built his hopes up and now they were dashed again. Claire wasn’t with the cousins in Moyross. Devastated, he realized he didn’t know where else to look. He just didn’t have a single clue. He went back to England, to Shauna at the hotel.

‘Well?’ she asked him the minute he got to their room.

Josh shook his head, put down his overnight bag. ‘I’m going to get a bath,’ he said, and went into the bathroom and shut the door and turned on the taps.