‘We ate hash brownies and I got totally paranoid about the video – as soon as it went live I got convinced everyone was going to find out that it was us and that we were going to get in loads of shit. So I took a sleeping pill. Helen has some in her bedside drawer and I nicked one. I’ve never had one before. I didn’t realize it would knock me out that much. I was well out of it.’

He followed April for ten minutes before she pulled up outside a large converted Victorian house and got out.

‘I haven’t been here for ages,’ she said. ‘Our tenants moved out about six months ago and we can’t decide whether to get new ones or sell it. Tenants are such a hassle. But, anyway, I know Georgia comes here sometimes to chill out.’

Not just that, Patrick thought.

She fiddled with the keys for ages before finally opening the door. It was cool inside the hallway. April stooped to pick up the mail, tossing it onto the side before leading Patrick up the stairs to the first floor, where she spent another age unlocking the door of the flat.

So this, according to Alice, was where the teenagers had made their dirty movie. They went into the living room, April’s sandals clicking lightly on the wooden floor as she walked across the room, calling Georgia’s name.

‘She’s not here. No sign she’s been here either.’

She took her phone out and tried to phone her daughter again. She looked properly anxious now.

But Patrick’s attention had been seized by something lying on the coffee table. He crouched and picked it up, turning it over in his hand. A small teddy bear, the kind you would give to a newborn baby. Bonnie had one similar, except hers was a pink rabbit, much-cuddled, always filthy.

Helen Philips had described this teddy to him. He’d seen it in a photograph.

Frankie’s Red Ted.

‘What’s that?’ April asked.

His heart was thumping now. ‘April, I really need to talk to your daughter.’

His phone rang. It was Carmella. ‘Sir, that girl you went to talk to, Georgia Hardy-Wilson . . .’

As he listened to Carmella, he couldn’t meet April’s eye. These were the moments he lived for and dreaded as a policeman. The breakthrough, the sudden parting of the clouds. But these clouds had parted to reveal a hot, vicious sun.

‘April,’ he said, after Carmella had hung up. She was staring at him fearfully. ‘You might want to sit down for a moment. It’s about Georgia.’

Chapter 38

Chapter 38
Georgia – Day 6