He looks so crestfallen to have been rejected that I cannot bear to look at him, so instead I turn and flee, running across the yard and slamming the tack-room door shut behind me. How can I explain to him that riding is what I want to do, more than anything, but that is exactly the reason I choose not to? I caused Anna’s death because I was too lazy and disorganised to exercise my own horse. My poor darling Suki, whose life was also lost because of her mistress. My punishment for not riding on the one day I should have is never riding again, no matter how much it pains me to stay away.

‘Genie.’ Kit is hammering on the door.

‘Just give me a second,’ I plead.

‘Is Tui in there with you?’ he asks, and I realise that he no longer sounds concerned or even cross, but scared. I slide the bolt back across, his expression when he rushes into the tack room sending an awful coldness through me.

‘Shit,’ he says, scanning the corners of the room. ‘When did you last see her?’

‘I didn’t,’ I say, beginning to feel frantic myself now. ‘I only heard her – and that was a good ten minutes ago.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Kit touches a hand to my shoulder. ‘Search the yard. I’ll check the paddocks.’

We split up and head off in different directions, both of us calling Tui’s name as we run from feed room to indoor school to office and back again. I start to yell for Beavis, too, hoping that wherever the little dog is, his mistress won’t be far behind, but there is no sign of either of them. Ekara is tethered to a wooden rail in the centre of the yard, and on my fifth fraught circuit, I pause for a moment and press my forehead against her dark brown neck.

‘Any sign?’ Kit emerges from the outdoor school looking harassed.

‘Nothing,’ I say, biting my lip. ‘Where else would she go?’

‘I don’t know.’ Kit runs an agitated hand through his hair. ‘She knows not to run off without someone with her, but if she was annoyed … Oh, shit.’ He looks suddenly frantic.

‘Keith is missing,’ he says. ‘He was right here tacked up for Tui, but he’s gone. Oh, bloody hell! You don’t think she would have –’

‘She must have ridden out in the direction of the river,’ I interrupt, more with hope than conviction. The alternative is the highway, and I can’t let myself entertain that idea.

‘Let’s go then,’ says Kit, starting to move, but I stop him.

‘We’ll never catch up with her on foot.’ I turn towards Ekara. ‘I’ll have to go on horseback.’

‘But what about –’ he stutters, but I’m already yanking down the stirrups.

‘I’ll go on ahead,’ I say. ‘You check the road, then follow us.’