But Anna is not in bed. The bed, in fact, is barely rumpled, as though she’d gotten up and thrown the covers back into place to keep her spot warm while she—what? Went to pee? Got a drink of water?

The bathroom door stands open, but Anna is not in there either. Maeve hesitates for a moment and then, childishly, pulls the wardrobe door open. But there’s only Anna’s winter coat hanging in there, alone among the empty hangers, and the boots she wore the day before on the hike.

Maeve crosses back, passing through her own room again—as though Anna could somehow have snuck by her, a game—and then goes downstairs, expecting to find her there now, drinking the last of the coffee by the fire. But in the lobby, Sadie is the only one by the hearth, stirring her own cup with a tinkling spoon. Karo looks up.

“Well?”

“She isn’t here?” Maeve says.

“Where?”

“I mean, she didn’t come down while I was gone?”

Karo gets to her feet.

“She isn’t up there,” Maeve says. “So she must be down here somewhere.”

“Christ,” Dan says. “How many times do I have to say everyone stays together till this is over?”

Karo doesn’t say a word to this but simply turns and walks into the dining room, the heels of her boots clicking against the wood floor. Justin looks up from where he’s been relacing his own boots by the fire.

“I haven’t seen her since last night,” he says. “Sadie? How about you?”

Sadie taps her spoon against the rim of her mug a final time before answering.

“I think she was planning to sleep somewhere else. If you know what I mean.”

Karo arrives back from her quick tour of the kitchen just in time to hear this.

“What do you mean?” she says. She glances sharply at Dan.

“She came down and got an extra key—”

Maeve cuts in. “She wanted to keep me company. I was anxious,” she says. “Anna slept in the room next to mine.”

Sadie’s face changes on hearing this—less smug, more stung. It’s not what she was expecting. Karo pulls the master key from the desk.

“So you didn’t really check her room at all,” she snaps. “You just checked your own and the one next to it.”

She starts for the stairwell, but when Maeve jumps up to join her, she spins around.

“No,” she says. “Everyone else waits here.”

Maeve stays put, but her heart is ringing in her chest. Stupid of her not to check Anna’s usual room. She turns slowly back to the fire. Sim meets her eye from where he’s working, knife in hand. Then he looks away, goes back to it.

After a minute, they hear Karo’s steps echoing down the stairs. She’s running.