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Hide and Seek

Andrea Mara
Contents ( 73)
  1. Andrea Mara
  2. About the Author
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
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  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
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  50. 48
  51. 49
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  55. 53
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  62. 60
  63. 61
  64. 62
  65. 63
  66. 64
  67. 65
  68. 66
  69. 67
  70. 68
  71. Acknowledgements
  72. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
  73. TRANSWORLD
Penguin Random House

Andrea Mara

HIDE AND SEEK

Penguin Random House

About the Author

Andrea Mara is a Sunday Times and Irish Times Top Ten bestselling author, and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including Irish Crime Novel of the Year. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and three young children, and also runs multi-award-winning parent and lifestyle blog, OfficeMum.ie. Hide and Seek is her second thriller to be published in the UK and internationally.

Also by Andrea Mara

The Other Side of the Wall

One Click

The Sleeper Lies

All Her Fault

To Elaine, with love.

1

June 2018

TEN SECONDS.

That’s how long it takes for Sophie to disappear.

That’s how long it takes for me to realize that she’s not in our front garden. That she’s not behind the car and she’s not behind the gate and she’s not behind the pillar in the porch. That she’s not in any of her small selection of favourite hiding spots.

That Sophie’s not here at all.

‘Sophie? Sophie!’

I’m confused. I’m not worried. Not really. She knows not to leave the garden. I’m almost certain she knows not to leave the garden. Our rules for Hide and Seek are simple: I count to ten, she hides somewhere very nearby, and I search. Sometimes I have to pretend I can’t see her, to make the game last longer. Like when she huddles behind the cherry blossom: a tree whose trunk is far narrower than even three-year-old Sophie. And then I walk up and down past it, eyes straight ahead, calling her name, just as I’m calling it now.

Only she’s not behind the cherry blossom.

She’s not anywhere.

‘Sophie! You can come out now – the game’s over!’

This is why I don’t like Hide and Seek. This is why she’s not supposed to hide anywhere other than our own front garden. Could she have gone inside the house? I glance back, but the front door is closed, the key in the pocket of my shorts. The side passage maybe? The back garden? The shed? A lurch of worry takes hold. The shed is full of trouble – rakes and trimmers and hammers and weed killer. Did Mark lock it last night? Could Sophie have— ‘I think I’ve found something of yours.’

The voice comes from the garden next door. I look over to see a woman nodding pointedly at the dividing wall – at something on her side, out of sight from where I’m standing. Something, or someone.

‘Sophie?’ I’m at the waist-high wall in three strides, and there she is, crouched down in this stranger’s hydrangeas. ‘Sophie! Come out of there. You can’t just go into other people’s gardens.’

She looks up at me, all blue eyes and freckled nose and butter-wouldn’t-melt mouth.

‘Did I win Hide and Seek?’

‘No, because you left our garden without telling me, and you shouldn’t do that.’ It sounds sharp and I can feel the woman looking at me. ‘Now, say sorry to …’ I glance up at our neighbour.