‘For some reason, Lucy has gone back down to the gorge. She’s going to get drenched.’

Lucy appeared in the doorway, her eyes red from crying.

‘Don’t suppose anyone has seen my mobile?’ she said. ‘I left it charging in the lounge and now I can’t find it anywhere.’

I looked at my phone again, selecting the icon for Daniel’s handset, feeling my heart thumping against my ribs as I waited for the app to locate the signal.

It zeroed in on the location of my son’s phone, and my heart rose up into my throat.

Chapter 79

79

Daniel

Daniel ran.

The rain was a pounding torrent that made a thick wall of noise as it struck the leaves on the trees around him and the ground at his feet. He was properly soaked now – he may as well have jumped into the pool, there wasn’t a bit of him that wasn’t totally drenched. Hopefully Lucy would have an umbrella, and they could both go under it and wait for the rain to stop.

He squinted through his rain-smeared glasses. She was up ahead. Near the edge where . . . He didn’t want to think about what had happened to Izzy, it was too sad. Why his sister had wanted to come down here again, he couldn’t figure out. But she had a present for him, and she’d texted him specially, so he’d come. Remembering the bag of Haribo in his hand, he held it up behind his back so that it would be a surprise.

He slowed his pace as he came into the clearing next to the big fallen tree. She was right on the edge of the cliff, with her back to him, long blonde hair plastered to her head. He slowed to a walk, trying to catch his breath. Slowly, she turned around.

He gave her his best smile. Here she was: his sister.

Oh. No she wasn’t.

It wasn’t Lucy.

It took a moment for that to sink in, for his thoughts to catch up, as he blinked up at her through the downpour. Not Lucy. It was Jake and Ethan’s mum, Jennifer, her make-up smeared and smudged in the rain, black lines running down from each eye.

She was here too, that was a bit weird. And she had a phone that looked just like Lucy’s. Like, identical.

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Have you seen my sister?’

Jennifer smiled at him.

‘She’s on her way.’ She indicated the hand he held behind his back. ‘What have you got there, Daniel?’

He brought the bag of sweets out to show her.

‘A present for Lucy.’

‘Aren’t you sweet? Guess what – I’ve got a present for you too.’

‘What is it?’

She reached into her pocket.

‘A surprise, honey.’