She went silent as a burly male nurse entered, holding the requested folder with all of Eliza’s details, including photos of her injuries. Gabriella winked at the nurse, who winked back.

‘Plus, given he’s Jasmine’s dad, if she takes the chance to apologise to him and ease some of that guilt she’s carrying, we should be able to get to the point much quicker when we go in.’

‘Your compassion is overwhelming,’ said Gabriella, her finger to her ear.

CHAPTER 7

MURPHY

Murphy stepped into Eliza’s room.

Eliza was upright in bed, propped up by pillows. Her head was wrapped in bandages, her honey hair falling around her face. She wore a thick white bathrobe, the blankets pulled up to her waist, and she was speaking with a plump, grey-haired nurse who sat beside her.

‘Who’re you?’ demanded the nurse, standing up. ‘If you’re another journalist, I swear to the Lord Jesus that I’ll —’

‘Murphy!’ said Eliza, leaning forward. ‘Have they found them?’ Her voice was hoarse. ‘Tell me they’ve found them.’

Murphy shook his head.

Eliza swayed, putting one hand to her head. ‘No . . . Murphy. It’s . . . it’s all my fault.’

‘You know this man?’ said the nurse. ‘Is he family?’

‘He’s the father of one of the girls.’

The nurse’s face softened. ‘Oh, you poor thing,’ she said to him, changing her attitude instantly. ‘If there’s anything I can . . .’ She saw the blood on his bandaged wrists.

‘It’s fine,’ said Murphy.

Undeterred, the nurse quickly snapped on some gloves, lifted his hands and began unravelling the bandages.

‘Who wrapped this, a child? This is woeful . . .’ She hissed at the cuff wounds once they were exposed, still oozing blood.

‘Are you okay, Murphy?’ said Eliza. ‘You must want to kill me . . .’

‘What happened up there? They’re not telling me anything.’ He ignored the nurse as she rummaged in a trolley, returning to spray sharp-smelling antiseptic onto his wounds.

‘It . . . it’s hazy, Murphy. I think I took a blow to the head. But . . . I was with the four of them. Cierra, Georgia, Bree, Jasmine. We were trailing behind the main group.’

‘Why weren’t you with everyone else?’

‘I held them back. I did. This morning . . . there was a fight. I thought it would be better to keep them separate.’

‘A fight?’

‘Between Madison and Jasmine.’

Murphy’s stomach lurched, even as he recognised it was an irrational thing to be concerned about, considering she was missing. ‘Was Jaz alright?’

‘Madison ended up with a black eye, and Jasmine had a cut lip. Tom and Jack had already left with all the other girls. I still had Madison and Jasmine, as well as Georgia, Cierra, and Bree Wilkins. Do you remember Bree?’

‘She was friends with your Denni.’

‘Yes,’ said Eliza. ‘Friends with my Denni. And now I’ve lost four more girls . . .’ Her voice wavered.