I tell him it’s not like Bethany to leave her phone behind, or not to tell us where she is. The other officer must have sharp ears because he interrupts, ‘She like a drink, a party. She come back.’ He gives a lugubrious shrug. ‘She is the grown woman.’

Martelli nods. ‘Agente Pianozzi is correct, no? It is not an emergency. And you can see, we have many, many people here and on the island, and there is only we two. The stazione di polizia is closed. But I say you, if she don’t return by midnight and you still have the concern, you call to me. I go to the ferry, I watch the last boat leave – it is one or two of the morning – and then I come to the holiday house. She is not back by the breakfast time, we telephone to the Carabinieri in Grosseto. They cannot come any earlier.’

‘Who?’ I ask.

‘The Carabinieri. They are the important police. We are only the small town polizia.’ He hands me his card, points to his mobile number and taps the notepad. ‘I have your details, Signor Flowers.’

The older officer speaks to Martelli in Italian and he nods gravely at me and they return to the piazza. They look supremely unconcerned. One of the barmen leans over the heads of the Italians crowded around his counter and hands both police officers an espresso.

30

AMY

She runs to the door when she sees the lights of the hire car, but Nick is on his own. He shakes his head when he gets out.

‘I spoke to a police officer,’ he says. ‘Agente Martelli. He’ll be here between one and two a.m. if Bethany doesn’t come back before then.’

‘What the hell for?’ Matt says. ‘You Flowers – making everything into a drama. She’ll be propping up a bar somewhere.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Nick says. ‘But just in case… have you looked round here?’

‘I walked up to the terrace cafe in the vineyard,’ she tells him. ‘I saw Carlo and his friends.’

‘Yeah, so did I.’

‘They were about to head to the festa. She wasn’t with them, and he said he hadn’t seen her.’

‘Do you believe him? Do you think he might have had something to do with it?’

‘Carlo? Not likely, is it? You both saw him in the bar. I’m going to bed.’ Matt yawns and kisses Amy on the cheek.

Luca and her dad have already gone to their rooms and the children are finally asleep. She makes a pot of coffee and takes it out to the pool. She lights candles and brings out rugs.

Nick can’t sit still. He paces round the house and she hears him calling for Bethany, sees the flicker of his torch skittering through the olive trees.