This is unexpected. ‘Greg’s never mentioned that.’ Before he disappeared, Sienna would never have admitted this to Holly. In fact, she would have done everything she could to show her how close she and Greg are, to prove that he tells her everything, that they have something above and beyond his first marriage.

‘That doesn’t surprise me.’ Holly rolls her eyes. ‘He still keeps things close to his chest then?’

Sienna nods.

‘It’s not a bad thing, it’s just… well, Greg. Tell me then, what’s going on? How come you’re here?’

And she begins, unfolds only the parts of the story she can let Holly be privy to: Greg has been missing for two days, and she’s here because she needs to know if Jackson’s heard from him.

Holly leans forward. ‘Missing? That’s awful. He called Jackson on… let me see… Friday, I think. Yes, definitely Friday after school.’

The day she and Greg argued. Sienna didn’t see him on Saturday; she’d assumed he’d slept in the spare room before heading straight to work without waking her.

‘What happened?’ Holly continues. ‘Sorry to ask this but did you have some sort of argument?’

Rather than being annoyed by it, Sienna respects the fact that Holly gets straight to the point. ‘No,’ she says, because telling the truth to this woman is too difficult. In the short time she’s spent in this office, she already senses that Holly likes her, that if nothing else she might believe Greg has done okay for himself. Sienna can’t let her believe that she’s a disaster, that it’s no wonder Greg has left. Too many people already believe this, and just for once she wants someone to be on her side.

‘And what have the police said?’

‘They’ve got all his details, and they’ve assured me they’re looking into it.’

Holly pops the pen in her desk tidy and places her hands on the desk. ‘I’m sure they can check if he’s used his credit card, can’t they? It’s amazing what they can do to find people now. You should demand that they do that.’

‘I know they’ll be doing all they can. It’s difficult when he hasn’t even missed work or anything.’

Holly frowns.

‘He took a couple of weeks leave,’ she explains.

‘I see. That’s bad timing, isn’t it? Greg would never miss work, so if he was supposed to be in then the police would know for sure something’s very wrong.’

Sienna agrees. ‘What will you tell Jackson?’