‘Well, you did say Jimmy thinks of him as a special friend.’

‘You told them that?’

‘Yes. Why not?’

‘Don’t you see, Pa? They’ll think Eli was interested in Jimmy because . . .’ I didn’t have the words for it, just a nasty feeling. ‘A young boy says that an eccentric old man is his “special friend”. What does that suggest to you, Pa, especially if you are a policeman with a suspicious mind?’

Pa looked shocked. ‘Surely they wouldn’t think . . .?’

‘Well, whatever they think, they will suspect Eli might have had something to do with Jimmy’s disappearance. And he’s done nothing wrong. He’s completely innocent.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘What do you mean, “You don’t know that”?’ I spluttered. ‘You don’t honestly think Eli would have harmed Jimmy? For heaven’s sake.’

‘Don’t let’s argue, darling.’

I stomped up to my room and wept into my pillow. Everything seemed so bleak and hopeless.

At some point in the afternoon the police returned. They’d talked to a number of other people, but hadn’t come up with anything yet and would resume their searches in the morning, with dogs and divers this time. Divers. The very thought made me feel dizzy and sick.

‘Please don’t worry too much,’ Weasel Face said. ‘If Jimmy’s just got lost, he’ll be perfectly fine for a few days in this warm weather. We are still optimistic of finding him safe and well.’

Henry Blackman arrived with a shepherd’s pie made by his wife, and seemed to delight in reporting the day’s events: how the police had complimented the way he’d organised the search parties; how he had been up to see Eli in his new home and found him wandering around the building site, looking for firewood.

‘Had to show him the electric cooker in his house. Poor old fellow seems to be losing his mind,’ he said. ‘The police have already interviewed him once, and I got the impression they think there’s something he’s not divulging.’ He tipped his head confidentially.

My guilt had hardened into a permanent painful lump in my chest. Now I felt even guiltier than ever. Why did I tell Pa about Jimmy calling Eli his ‘special friend’? It seemed such a harmless, even charming thing to say at the time. But now Jimmy had gone missing the phrase took on a sinister meaning, bringing the poor old man under suspicion. And this, too, was my fault.

By nightfall, Pa and I had held each other and cried together many times. We’d joined search parties, been to the church to pray, talked endlessly between ourselves and to the police. Nothing could bring us any peace. It was like a living nightmare, and I wished so much that I could pinch myself and wake up.

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