They moved into the living room, and then the playroom, and then the kitchen, but in each there were just too many places for a small item to be hidden. A thorough search couldn’t be spared the time.

‘Cards on the table, dear,’ Miller said. ‘Any chance you’ve seen that text, and maybe hid the phone so us guys wouldn’t?’

‘No,’ Anna answered, shocked. ‘I must have put it down somewhere.’

‘You were muddy,’ Bennet said. ‘Did you drop it when you slipped over outside?’ He was already heading for the patio door but stopped when Anna made a noise.

‘Josie’s room! I slipped.’

She got a head start, so that she was on her knees on Josie’s wet laminate floor by the time Bennet and Miller arrived. With no memory of the device either in her hands or flying out of them, she was doubtful. But there, under the bed, she saw it. She reached for it with such urgency she cracked her forehead on the bedframe.

As she picked it up and withdrew, the screen came alive, and sure enough a text message was waiting. From Nick.

‘But he didn’t take any clothing,’ she murmured, and then the phone slipped away and crashed to Josie’s floor for a second time.

Well, I tossed a coin and you lost. Hope you’ve got good pictures of Josie in your head. You’ll need them. All good things come to an end, I suppose. Loved you once. XXX.

Two

‘I said I needed a minute.’

‘We both know that’s not the reason, dear,’ Miller said as she got into the passenger seat. ‘I used to hide from my dad when he got my school results. Same reason.’

‘What’s he saying?’

‘I imagine exactly what you feared, seeing as you came out here to get away.’

Unable to face the oncoming explosion, Anna had left the house. She’d sat in her car on the driveway, in silence, watching the dark street and trying not to imagine how her father would be reacting to the threat sent from Nick’s mobile.

‘He really thinks Nick sent it, doesn’t he? You all do.’

‘That would be bias, dear. I don’t do such a thing. The scales are always balanced until evidence knocks them one way or the other.’

‘What about Father’s promise? I suspect he’ll have told you all about that.’

Miller lowered the sun visor to check a little scar above her chin. ‘Immediately. If you married Nick, he would cut you out of all financial help. Harsh. How’s that been working out?’