I should be feeling ecstatic. I have no doubt that Adam and Margot will agree to talk to me now, which could be a turning point for my career, and Ted will be overjoyed – but I can’t stop thinking about them, most of all Margot. Seeing her again, meeting Adam and little Ethan has stirred everything up. As a teenager I was more than a little obsessed with the family. I never got to meet Heather’s dad as he’d died a few years previously, before they moved to Tilby, but her uncle – Margot’s younger brother, Leo – was always there. A handsome, jovial guy with the same thick, dark hair as Margot used to have and twinkly green eyes.

I’d been more than a little envious of them, really, Heather and Flora. Being an only child, I’d always wanted an older sister. And they seemed so close.

They had everything – or so I thought then. Even, later, when I got to know them better, when Heather became my best friend, Flora still remained that glamorous enigma.

And then, in August 1994, sixteen-year-old Flora Powell disappeared.

Chapter 9

9

August 1994

Flora grabbed her sister’s hand in a sudden rush of excitement. The fair had come to Tilby and it was the most thrilling thing that had happened in their boring little town all year. More amazingly still, their mother had allowed them to go. In the evening. Without her or Uncle Leo tagging along.

Different tunes clashed together so all that was discernible was the heavy beat of the drums. Lights flashed from the rides and laughter rang out in the normally empty field. The sweet scent of candyfloss was heavy in the air, mixed with something else, roasted meat, perhaps. Heather glanced at her sister, seeming unsure. Heather was only fourteen and this was the first time she’d been allowed to go to the fair at night without her mother. Unknown to her, Flora had snuck out last year when everyone was asleep. She’d been brave enough then to go to the edge of the caravan park and watch from that safe distance as the lights of the Big Wheel dazzled and the thump of music floated through the night.

But this year was different. This year Flora had turned sixteen. She was practically an adult. Plus she wanted to meet him.