After reassuring the Hamptons that we’ll be in touch, we leave them for the night. There’s a covering of frost on my car and, as I get in and drive away, I feel myself shiver. James was on edge, haunted and stressed, while Stephanie was brittle. Judging from the size of the house, they must have once had a lot of money, but there are now signs of work needing doing – the wallpaper I noticed when I went in, the threadbare carpet on the stairs. But people have different priorities and maybe these things aren’t important to them. Then I think about the dynamic between them. They were at odds over something – and in spite of what Stephanie said, I don’t think it’s about when they should have called the police.

The feeling in my gut grows stronger. James was too quiet, as though he was frightened of saying the wrong thing. He was awkward when I pulled out his book. There’s also the reality none of us talked about. In this brutal cold, each passing hour without any word from Hollie makes it more and more likely something bad has happened to her.

Chapter Eight

Elise

Later that night, I’m unable to sleep, angry that Andrew hasn’t returned, envisaging him in bed with her, before my thoughts turn back to Hollie. I try to imagine what could have happened to her. Losing her mother when she did, Hollie’s had enough difficulties to deal with in her life. It seems incomprehensible that anyone would wish such a fragile girl harm. But I can’t shake the feeling of foreboding that hangs over me. It was in James’s face – and his voice, too, when he came here. He’s used to Hollie’s comings and goings, but even so, he’s clearly worried.

I’m drifting off to sleep when the sound of Andrew’s car coming up the drive stirs me. Rolling over so that my back is to him, I feign sleep when he comes in and gets undressed. After getting into bed, he starts to snore almost immediately. I wonder if he even knows that Hollie is missing.

As I lie in bed, sleep is impossible, my thoughts racing unstoppably, more worried than ever that something’s happened to Hollie. It’s another early start, a flight to Paris, this time. Outside as I defrost my car, I imagine Hollie out in this cold, then James out of his mind with worry. I drive through the village slowly, looking out for her, even though I know it’s unlikely I’ll see her.

Chapter Nine

Jo

The next morning, the search gets under way at first light. It begins close to the Hamptons’ home, which in daylight shows more evidence of the shabbiness I detected last night. The paint on the window frames is peeling, the garden overgrown, the unswept paths slippery with moss.