Page 78 of Then She Vanished

‘Do you have a surname for Albie?’ Gina asked.

‘No.’

‘When did you date him?’

‘It was just before Lissy came to stay.’

She opened her mouth and worry lines reached across her forehead. ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ She let out a few breaths. ‘I told some of my colleagues that someone had been following me after the late shift. I suspected him, but… he wasn’t following me, was he? He saw Lissy with me and…why? When I drove her home, I thought I saw someone in a red cap in a car, but I thought I was being silly because I was thinking it could be anyone and everyone. I guessed that my mind was filling in gaps that weren’t there, but he was there. Ithadto be him, didn’t it?’ Realisation dawned on her. ‘It wasn’t about me, was it? He wanted Lissy and he followed me to get to her.’

Marie looked completely shell-shocked.

‘Have you seen the news?’ Gina asked.

‘No, I don’t watch anything like that with my four-year-old in the house. There are normally kids’ programmes on the telly.’

‘The man in this drawing was found dead in a car in Cleevesford this week.’

‘So where is Felicity?’

‘We don’t know,’ Jacob continued.

Gina passed Jacob the drawing of the girl in the photos. He held it up for Marie to see. ‘Do you recognise this girl?

‘It’s hard to see because her hair covers her face.’ She tilted her head. ‘Her face shape, lips and chin, even her cute slight upturned nose.’ A tear began to meander down one of her cheeks and her dampening eyes glistened. ‘It looks like Lissy with a scar. That looks like a burn or something.’ She paused. ‘You’re here because he’s dead and he was keeping Lissy somewhere. She’s going to die without him, isn’t she? Please save her, don’t let her die.’

Jacob interjected as Marie got more upset. ‘We believe there is someone else involved, an accomplice.’

‘Who tried to kidnap again?’ Marie was good at reading between the lines.

He nodded.

‘He had no friends,’ Marie started. ‘I know he got on with an old chap at the pub who he used to play chess with, but no one his own age.’

‘Do you know anyone called Luna?’

‘Albie had a Rottweiler called Luna and he wore that same cap.’

‘Can you tell us anything else about him?’

‘He was into prepping.’

‘Prepping?’ Gina thought she knew what Marie was getting at.

‘You know, preparing for the end of the world.’

Gina’s phone beeped. Relief flooded her as she saw that O’Connor had texted her work phone.

Garth has come back with some information from Gary’s computer. You need to see this.

FIFTY

GIRL

Weeks have passed again, and since I beat him at chess he stopped coming, but last night he finally came back. It was one of my fertile days and he said if I catch, we will be a family. Right now, I feel like I’m being punished for losing our baby, and him not being here much is making me believe even more that it was my fault.

He should trust me and take me up to the surface to live with him. I keep telling him that I’ll never leave. He’s been abandoned before and I know how much the prospect of it happening again scares him. I guess it’s for me to try harder, to make him see that I care for him so much I will never leave him.

I lie on the bed with my legs up, against the curve of this big tin can I’m living in. I remember hearing my mum and her friend talking once, saying that they did that to make sure they conceived. Of course, I never joined in that conversation. I was fourteen when that happened. Embarrassing. I’m more grown up now and I see why a person would go through this when the desire burns so deeply within.