Fran leaves, and such is my relief at the fact that she’s allowing me to stay, for now anyway, that I remain in my room out of her way, just in case she changes her mind. I start to unpack the few things I had placed carefully into my suitcase, taking my time to hang them back up so I don’t have to head downstairs anytime soon, even though I have no idea if Fran is even still home, it’s so quiet. Such is the silence in the rest of the house that I almost jump out of my skin when my ringtone blares filling the room with Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’ (Laurel’s choice), MUM appearing on the screen. Sighing, I take a deep breath before I press the button to connect.

‘Hi, Mum.’

‘Oh, Charlie, what have you done?’

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

My mother’s words are laced with worry and disappointment and I have to swallow hard to squash down the emotion that rises up in me at the sound of her voice.

‘Hi, Mum. Nice of you to ring. I’m not too sure what you mean by that, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’ I say the words, but I do know, of course I do, and my heart sinks like a lead weight.

‘The girl. The missing girl in Surrey. Why didn’t you tell me?’ Her voice catches, and I hear her suck in, and I know she’s smoking, even though she promised my dad she’d given up.

‘I couldn’t,’ I say, my eyes smarting. ‘And how did you know?’

‘BBC online.’ There’s a pause. ‘There’s a breaking news banner on the website. A picture of you leaving the police station, and a headline that says, Did the nanny do it?’

‘So, you’re ringing to ask me if I had anything to do with Laurel’s abduction?’ A fist of hurt twists in my belly. I am still nothing more than a disappointment to her.

‘No, silly girl,’ she says softly, ‘I’m calling to see if you’re OK. To ask why you didn’t tell me that you were home. Why you wanted me to think you were still in Killin.’

‘Mum . . .’ I battle for a moment to take a breath, the lump in my throat is so big.