Page 9 of The Missing Sister

‘Yes, Mary McDougal, the same as me. My name’s Mary-Kate officially, though everyone calls me MK. Er... do you have any other information about this missing sister?’

‘Yes, just one thing. There’s this picture of a ring,’ said Chrissie. She placed the crumpled image in front of Mary-Kate on the slim counter that separated them. ‘It’s a ring with emeralds in a star shape with seven points and a diamond in the centre. Apparently, this Mary got it from, um, somebody, and it proves that it’s her, if you know what I mean. Sadly, that’s the only physical clue we have.’

Mary-Kate glanced at the picture, her brow furrowing slightly.

‘It probably means nothing to you, and we’d better leave,’ CeCe mumbled, her embarrassment growing by the second. She grabbed the piece of paper. ‘So sorry for bothering you and—’

‘Hold on! Can I take another look?’

CeCe stared at her in surprise. ‘You recognise it?’

‘I think I might do, yes.’

CeCe’s stomach turned over. She looked at Chrissie, wishing she could reach for her hand and have her own comfortably squeezed, but she wasn’t atthatstage in public yet. She waited as the young woman studied the picture more closely.

‘I couldn’t say for sure, but it looks a lot like Mum’s ring,’ said Mary-Kate. ‘Or actually – if it is the same one – it’s mine now, as she gave it to me on my twenty-first.’

‘Really?’ CeCe gasped.

‘Yeah, she’s had it for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t something she wore every day, but sometimes on special occasions, she’d take it out of her jewellery box and put it on. I always thought it was pretty. It’s very small, you see, and she could only fit it on her little finger, which didn’t look right, or her fourth finger, which already had an engagement and wedding ring on it. But as I’m not about to get engaged or married, it doesn’t matter which finger I wear it on,’ she added with a grin.

‘So does that mean you’ve got it now?’ CeCe said quickly. ‘Could we take a look at it?’

‘Actually, before she left on her trip, Mum asked me if she could take it with her, as I so rarely wear it anyway, though maybe she decided not to... Listen, why don’t you come upstairs to the house?’

At that moment, a tall, well-muscled man wearing an Akubra hat put his head around the door.

‘Hi, Doug,’ said Mary-Kate. ‘All okay?’

‘Yeah, just popping in to get some more water bottles for the gang.’ Doug indicated the group of burly men standing outside.

‘Hi,’ he said to CeCe and Chrissie as he crossed to a fridge and pulled out a tray of water bottles. ‘Are youse tourists?’

‘Yeah, sort of. It’s beaut round here,’ said Chrissie, recognising the man’s Aussie accent.

‘It is, yeah.’

‘I’m just going to pop upstairs with our visitors,’ said Mary-Kate. ‘They think I may have some family connection to them.’

‘Really?’ Doug stared at CeCe and Chrissie and frowned. ‘Well, me and the boys will be having our tucker just out there, if ya need anything.’

Doug indicated a round wooden table where his men were gathering and sitting down.

‘Thanks, Doug,’ said Mary-Kate.

He nodded, gave CeCe and Chrissie a piercing look, then left.

‘Blimey, you wouldn’t mess with them, would you?’ breathed CeCe, staring at the group outside.

‘No,’ Mary-Kate said with a grin. ‘Don’t mind Doug, he’s our manager – it’s just that since Mum and my brother Jack left, he’s gone all protective, y’know? The boys are great actually. I had a meal with them last night. Now, come through.’

‘Seriously, we can wait outside if you want,’ Chrissie said.

‘It’s fine, although I’ll admit I’m finding this all a bit weird. Anyway, as you’ve just seen, I’m well protected.’

‘Thanks,’ said CeCe, as Mary-Kate pulled up part of the counter to let them in. She led them up some steep wooden steps and along a hallway into an airy beamed sitting room, which faced the valley and mountains beyond on one side, and was dominated by a huge stone fireplace on the other.

‘Please, sit down and I’ll go take a look for the ring.’