My hand tenses around the handset as her newer messages play out, and I keep hoping the next one will tell me that Casey’s turned up.

But the most recent voicemail is the hardest to hear. Angelica’s crying so much that I can’t make out all the words:

‘She’s still . . . not . . . back. My baby girl has gone. Where is she, Dan? I need you to help me find her. Call me, please. I don’t know what else to do.’

Chapter 41: Dan

Now I get it.

To experience real fear, you have to love someone. That’s why I’ve never felt fear like this before.

I did feel something close to it for those three endless minutes on the Harbourside when Gemma and I thought we’d lost Casey and Bear. But this is another level of terror.

I throw my things into my backpack, rip the tent pegs out of the earth, roll it all up in a messy bundle that I can barely carry and take off along Welsh Back, the rain still pouring, drunk guys jeering and shouting after me.

As I half walk, half run, I call Angelica.

‘Is she with you?’ she asks, sounding breathless too.

‘I’m so sorry. No.’

‘Fucking hell, Dan. Where is she?’

‘We’ll find her,’ I say, because we have to. ‘Where are you now?’

‘I’ve been walking round the hospital and the university. There’s no sign. But she doesn’t know Bristol at all, so where could she have gone?’

‘You’ve tried calling her?’

‘Oh, that’s a good idea, why didn’t I think of that? Of course I’ve bloody called her. In between trying to track you down, which wasted precious time.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, panting as I speed up, and almost slipping as the water floods the cobbles.

‘This is down to you. She hardly spoke a word this morning. I think she’s gone because she’s so upset.’

‘Angelica, I mean it. I am sorry. But I’m near the flat, I can pick up the jeep, go wherever you want me to.’

‘I can’t think straight. You know this city – you’ve taken her to different places. The only thing we can do is go where she’s already been. And hope she’s got some shelter.’

Has the walk sobered me up enough to get behind the wheel? I’m light-headed, but that’s from losing Casey. It was only one can of cider, an hour or more ago. ‘OK, I’ll go to my work, in case she’s tried there. And I’ll call Vijay and Harrison, see if they have any ideas or suggestions about—’

‘Do they know?’ she interrupts.

‘About the penthouse?’

Angelica scoffs. ‘Obviously they know that you’ve been living in their home. I wondered how much you’ve told them about everything else you’ve done. Prison. Oh, and the fact you’re not even Dan Lennon.’

My body keeps propelling me forward on the cobbles, but my brain seizes. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Your girlfriend told me. She came round to confront you, but ended up filling me in on how you’d changed your identity. I thought I knew everything, but turns out there’s always something new to discover about Darryl Lennox?’