There’s still no ransom demand; no one has seen anything or anyone suspicious in the area. The reporter mentions that Yin’s eight-year-old twin brothers were spending the night at their grandparents’ house. I try not to think about how distraught her brothers must have been when the news was broken to them. They’re barely old enough to understand.

My phone vibrates again and this time it’s a relief to answer.

‘Babe. Oh my god.’ Liana’s voice echoes. I’m sure she’s calling me from her backyard. ‘Do you know her? Are you okay?’

‘I’m okay. I don’t know her that well.’ I hate saying that, as if Yin should matter less to me because I’m not in her friendship group. ‘She’s in my year but I’ve only talked to her a few times.’

‘I’m freaked out Chlo. What if it was you who got taken?’

‘It wasn’t me. I’m at home and I’m fine.’ Liana’s voice is a balm, though, and I want to keep her on the line as long as possible.

‘Please, please come back to Morrison. It’s not safe there.’

‘L, I’m not rich, we don’t live anywhere near Glen Park, I’ve only been at Balmoral for three terms…it’s like, minimal risk.’

‘I don’t know what I’d do if you went missing.’

That silences me. I believe her, but this is probably the first time she’s called me in two weeks.

‘Do you know anything?’ she asks. ‘Like, insider info?’

‘No. I only found out watching the news earlier. I know as much as you do.’

After I finish speaking to Liana I search online for reports about the first Balmoral girl who was kidnapped, three years ago.

Karolina Bauer was a fourteen-year-old exchange student from Düsseldorf. Her host family were the Sheldons—they had a daughter, Maddie, in Year Twelve at Balmoral at the time. Karolina was abducted from her hosts’ home while the parents were at the next-door-neighbour’s house; Maddie was left behind. Karolina was eventually returned after a few days, unharmed and wearing nothing but a plastic rain poncho. Even though it had happened way across town, to a girl who was nothing like me, it was easy to picture.

How cold you would be, how goosebumped your bare skin under the thin plastic. Walking down the street, shivering and rustling. Numb inside, knowing nothing would ever be the same. Trying to pick the right house, a safe house with good people in it who would rescue you and call the police and give you hot tea.

Could two students from the same school be a coincidence?