Page 164 of Deep Blue Sea

There was a pause, then a slight echo of her own voice.

‘Diana?’ said a male voice. ‘Is that Diana?’

‘Yes. Who’s this?’

The pause again.

She felt a growing sense of dread in the pit of her stomach, but at the same time, she wasn’t panicking. She felt strong, in control. She could deal with this. Her hand slipped down to her belly again. She could deal with anything now.

‘It’s Liam. Liam Giles.’

‘Liam,’ she said with relief. ‘How are you? Safe trip back to Thailand, I assume.’

‘I’m trying to get in touch with Rachel,’ he said without preamble. His voice contained the same anxiety she had felt a few moments earlier.

‘She’s in London. Have you tried calling her?’

‘I spoke to her last night.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Probably nothing,’ he said. ‘She’s just not answering her phone.’

‘It’s still early. You know Rachel. Given the choice, she’d stay in bed till lunchtime, or have things changed that much?’

‘I just hope she’s not done anything stupid . . .’

Her smile vanished. He was starting to worry her.

‘Tell me what’s wrong, Liam.’

He waited before he spoke.

‘She gave me a DVD of the CCTV footage from the night of the party before I left, and when I went through it, I noticed that one of the guests never left the party.’

‘Never left the party?’ she queried.

‘I sent the footage to Rachel, and she identified the person as Greg Willets’s guest.’

‘Can you send the image to me?’

‘Sure. Are you near a computer?’

There was an iPad on the dressing table. She switched it on, and within seconds she was looking at the picture that Liam had sent her.

‘That’s right. Her name was Eva,’ said Diana, recognising her instantly. She had barely spoken to her all evening. She was blonde, foreign, with an incredible gym-toned body, and she had not seen her since. But then it wasn’t unusual for Greg’s girlfriends to be seen once or twice then never again.

‘What are you thinking, Liam?’

‘I just don’t want Rachel going places alone. Not after what happened to Ross.’

‘You mean we don’t know who to trust?’

‘I think you should get in touch with the officer in charge of the investigation. I think the police have missed this. And I don’t want her seeing Greg, or anyone else for that matter, by herself. If you can’t make that happen, I’m going to be on the next flight back from Thailand to bring her back home.’

‘You love her, don’t you?’ she said softly.

‘I won’t ever let anything happen to her.’