Page 68 of On the Edge

Nel exhaled a shaky breath.

Sophie checked the time on her phone.‘I need to get home,’ she said, reaching for the door handle.

‘Sophie, if you ever need help to leave, or help with anything, you call me, okay?Or the police.’

‘Yeah sure, I will.’

Nel wanted to believe her.‘Put my number in your phone.’

Sophie shook her head.‘He goes through my phone.’She opened the door and got out, then leaned in the open window.‘Thanks for the chat.’

Nel sighed.‘You know how you said you don’t have any friends?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s not true.You have me.’

Sophie gave her a half-hearted smile.‘Thanks.’

As Nel watched the Subaru disappear from the car park, she had a strange feeling that she would never see Sophie again.She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes.It felt hopeless.

She was replaying the conversation when there was a beep from her phone.Jimmy.

Meet me at the Grand.I have news.

Chapter 42

Nel got a beer and went to the table by the window, scanning the room.There was no sign of Jimmy.She must have beaten him there.She tried to ease the tension in her chest, still rattled by her conversation with Sophie, confirmation of her pregnancy.Nel had the distinct sense that time was running out.

The door swung open.Not Jimmy.She checked her phone for another message, but there was nothing.Her eyes were drawn to Harry, who was chatting to an elderly couple, a stack of glasses in her hand.Nel bit her nail, still struggling to reconcile this woman with the girl Maddie had befriended in her final months.

*

‘Your time starts now.’

There was a shuffle as everyone in the class opened the maths paper.Nel scanned the questions on the first page, which all looked straightforward.To her right, Maddie hadn’t even opened the exam.She was just sitting there, staring at the wall.Nel tapped her pen on the desk, but she didn’t move.

Nel reread the first question, entered numbers into her calculator and wrote down the answer, then moved to the next question.As she turnedthe page, she looked back at Maddie, who now lay with her head on the desk.Was she sick?

Nel looked at Mrs Westerway, who was busy marking papers, then she sighed and got back to work.She was checking her answers when Mrs Westerway said, ‘Time’s up.Pens down.’

Maddie sat up.Nel tried to catch her eye as Mrs Westerway collected the papers.

‘Maddie, can you stay back, please?’Mrs Westerway said as the bell rang.

Nel hung around outside the room waiting for Maddie, but after a few minutes she gave up and went to her next class.

That afternoon, she went to the ice creamery.Maddie always worked on Fridays, when tourists would start arriving for the weekend, but there was no sign of her.Nel waited while Harriet served a Japanese couple.As she reached forward to scoop the mint choc-chip, Nel noticed lines on the inside of her forearm, some red, some silvery white.

When the tourists were gone, Harriet looked at Nel, her eyes heavily lined behind her black fringe.

‘She’s not here,’ she said before Nel even asked.

‘Is she sick?’

‘No.’

Nel frowned.