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“Of course.”

After a pause he said, “Call me when you’re ready.”

As she rang off Jenna looked into the sitting room, where the children were watching TV and eating their second bowls of Coco Pops. They were unusually quiet this morning as their tender little hearts tried to cope with the worry over Paige and where she might be. “They’ll want to come with me,” she said softly to Kay and Hanna, “but I’m not sure they should.”

Hanna said to her mother, “How would you feel about taking them somewhere to do their own search?”

“If you think that’s a good idea,” Kay responded, looking at Jenna.

Deciding it would be, Jenna nodded and went to start getting them ready. In truth she didn’t want them out of her sight for a single minute, but they’d be safe with her mother, and she wouldn’t want them nearby if the search at Rhossili didn’t end the way it simply had to.

—

By the time Richard and his sons turned up at ten Kay had already taken the children to search Port Eynon, and Jenna and Hanna, with their backpacks, were ready to go.

“My sons, Oliver and Cullum,” Richard said, introducing them as Jenna left Hanna to lock up.

As she shook their hands she thought fleetingly of Paige’s password, but it couldn’t be the same Oliver. It would be too much of a coincidence—except hadn’t Charlotte said that he was the brother of someone at school? And Cullum was in their year.

“Do you know Paige?” Jenna asked him, thinking how handsome he was with his shock of dark wavy hair, aqua blue eyes, and trendy stubble. He was as tall as his father, though not quite as filled out, and if he was the one Paige had fallen for, Jenna could understand why.

“Not exactly,” Oliver replied, coloring slightly. “We met a couple of times. My brother knows her.”

Turning to Cullum, Jenna said, “Did you know what was happening to her?”

Cullum nodded miserably. “I kept wanting to make them stop, but I…” He shrugged. “I should have. I feel really bad about it now.”

How many kids had simply stood by and let it carry on? Were they as much to blame as those who’d joined in? “Do you know who Julie Morris is?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “No one does.” His eyes came to hers. “I’m really sorry I didn’t stick up for her. I mean, I did a couple of times, but I don’t think she knew and it didn’t have any effect anyway.”

Not knowing what else to say, Jenna looked at Richard.

“I’m sorry,” he said gravely. “Obviously, if I’d known—”

“It’s not your fault,” she interrupted. “It’s mine. I wasn’t paying attention.”

Putting an arm around her, Hanna stepped forward. “Hi, you might remember me,” she said to Richard, holding out a hand to shake. “I was with Jenna the first time she came to see you.”

“Of course,” he responded, “Hanna. It’s good to see you again, though I could wish for better circumstances.”

“Indeed,” she agreed. “Thank you for driving us. I’m not sure either of us would be safe behind a wheel right now.”

“I’m glad to be of help.” He opened the rear door for her and Jenna to climb in with Cullum.

“It’s OK, I’ll go in the back,” Oliver offered.

“No, no, you’re far taller than us,” Jenna protested. “You stay in the front.”

Minutes later they were driving out of the village with a dozen or more cars falling in behind them: friends and neighbors coming to join in the search, maybe some reporters amongst them. Jenna was so tense, so horrified that her family had somehow turned into the kind of story they only ever saw on the news, that she had to close her eyes and try to pretend she was somewhere else. She felt Hanna’s hand slip into hers, and she rested her head on her sister’s shoulder. How lucky she was to have her, and their mother, and everyone else who cared, though right now she’d give up every single one of them just to know her child was safe.

She’s been out all night and no one has heard from her. That can’t be good. How could it possibly be anything but bad?

She had to stop the images that kept tormenting her. If she didn’t, she would lose her mind.

By the time they arrived at the car park in Rhossili it was so jammed with the vehicles of yet more volunteers that the police directed them to park in a specially cordoned-off area a few yards away. Euan, having traveled behind them in the convoy, was quick to jump out of his car to make sure his fellow officers were fully aware of who Jenna was.

She was treated as kindly by the police and those who recognized her as the weather was treating the stunning landscape around them. There was no wind, no rain, no dull leaden clouds, only sunshine and early spring warmth. She could sense people staring at her, feeling pity—and relief that they weren’t in her shoes. She didn’t look back at them.

The search was already under way, with many volunteers split into groups spreading out over the downs, the beach, and the cliffs, wherever they’d been sent. Jenna’s party was assigned a section of moorland close to the village.

So far three more people had confirmed seeing a teenage girl getting off the bus around ten yesterday morning. As yet no one seemed to know where she’d gone from there, apart from one person who was sure they’d spotted her in the churchyard.

“They’ve given you this area close to the village,” Euan told her, “so you won’t have a problem getting to the car if you need to leave.”

Jenna turned to look out at the Worm’s Head, stretching its rocky self out into the sun-spangled sea. She was trying to recall the poem Paige had whispered over her misty shots of the landmark, but her mind had gone blank. “She might have got cut off by the tide,” she said to no one in particular. “Has anyone checked out there?”

“Yes, we have,” she was told by one of the officers in her group. “No sign of her. Would you like to make a start now?”

The answer was no, because it shouldn’t be happening, but she obediently followed him and the others along a footpath she’d trodden many times on family walks out onto the moor. Every step felt wrong; she was desperate to turn back, to run from the reality of what she was doing because it was making no sense, but how could she trust her instinct that Paige wasn’t here when her instinct had let her down so badly till now?

Hours passed as the volunteers combed every inch of the territory, spreading out for miles, digging into ditches, tearing at bracken, lowering themselves into caves, and even trying to tune in to the prehistoric stone circles and burial chambers to connect with Paige on another level.

Nothing was found: not a single trace of a teenage girl having spent the night in the open, or something she might have dropped on her way to who knew where.

It was just after two when Jack rang to let Jenna know he was in the car park.

Hanna walked back with her, holding her arm and trying in her touching, steadfast way to transmit some moral support into her heart.

They found Jack talking to DS Mariner. His face was ashen, his eyes tired and bleak. Jenna wondered if he’d already been questioned about his relationship with Paige. If he had, this would surely have taken place on the phone before now, not here with so many people around.

“I was asking your husband how you’d feel about broadcasting an appeal,” Mariner told her.

A bolt of cruel reality crashed through Jenna as she looked at Jack. “What did you say?” she asked him.

“That I’d be guided by you,” he replied, showing no trace of hostility.

Jenna turned back to Mariner. “How’s it going to help?” she wanted to know. “It can’t unless she has access to the news.”

“Which she might have,” Mariner pointed out. “She has her phone.”

“Has she turned it on?”

Mariner shook her head. “If she’s staying with someone…”

“You mean this Julie?”
Whoever this Julie might be.

Mariner drew them aside so they’d be out of earshot. Sensing they were about to be told something bad, Jenna almost turned away. But what good would it do Paige if she was too afraid to hear the truth?

“What is it?” she asked, feeling the awful shaking starting again. “Have you found something?”

“Not here,” Mariner answered. “On her computer. It seems she and Julie had a suicide pact….”

“Oh my God!” Jenna sobbed.

Hanna slipped an arm around her, while Jack stared glassy-eyed at the detective.

“You have to find this Julie,” Jenna cried. “Do you know who she is yet?”

Mariner said, “I’m hoping to have some answers very soon. Are you sure she’s never mentioned her?”

“Of course I’m sure. I’d have told you if she had.”

Mariner looked at Jack. “I’ve no idea,” Jack said.

The detective nodded. “Are you ready to come to the station?” she asked him.

As he assented, Jenna could almost feel the depth of his fear and exhaustion. He was clearly jet-lagged, probably hadn’t slept all night, and had then driven all the way from Heathrow to join the search, only now to be hauled in by the police to be interrogated in a way that was going to tear him apart. She wished there was something she could say to help him, but she’d done all she could yesterday when they were questioning her. She truly didn’t believe he’d ever laid a finger on Paige in the way they were suggesting, but the only person who could persuade them of that was Paige herself.

After Jack had gone Jenna and Hanna rejoined their group, more to feel they were doing something than because they believed they were going to find her. Reports were starting to come in of sightings in Swansea and Cardiff, even as far afield as Newport, and Jenna could feel her hopes draining away with each one.

It was five o’clock by the time Richard took them back to the house. They were all tired and hungry, and Jenna was more afraid than ever.
Please God, don’t let there be another night without us knowing where she is.
Why hadn’t the computer experts found this Julie yet? What was proving so difficult? Surely identities couldn’t be that hard to uncover.

“Mummy! Mummy!” Josh and the twins cried as she walked in the door. “Did you find her?”

Catching them as they ran to her, Jenna had to say, “Not yet.”

“Nor did we,” Josh confessed solemnly.

“We looked everywhere,” Flora told her. “All along the beach and the dunes, in the Salt House, even in the churchyard where the big sailor is.”

“He’s a lifeboatman,” Josh reminded her.

“Oh yes.”

“And when we told people what we were doing they joined in,” Wills added.

“That was nice of them,” Jenna sighed as Richard followed her inside. “This is Mr. Pryce,” she told the children, “and these are his sons, Oliver and Cullum.”

Flora and Wills had such a long way to look up at Oliver and his father, and were so cute in their circular glasses as they did so, that Jenna’s heart folded with love. “Hello,” they said in unison.

“Hello,” Richard replied, going down to their height. “I’m guessing you’re Flora and you’re Wills, which means you must be Josh?”

Josh nodded and leaned into his mother.

“We can’t find our sister,” Flora whispered. “She’s got lost somewhere and we don’t know where she is.”

“I know,” Richard replied gently, “but we’ll find her, don’t you worry about that.”

Flora looked up at Jenna as though needing her to confirm it.

“We will,” Jenna insisted, needing to hear herself say it.

“Grandma bought hot cross buns,” Wills told them. “She’s put them in the oven to warm up.”

Since they’d rung ahead to let Kay know they were on their way, the tea was already made, so while Richard and Oliver joined Jenna, Hanna, and their mother in the kitchen, Cullum went off to be impressed by the children’s gadgets and toys.

“Any word from Jack yet?” Kay asked. “Is he still with the police?”

Jenna checked her mobile and shook her head. What could be taking so long?

“He might have gone home to get some sleep,” Hanna suggested. “Why don’t you try him?”

When Jenna pressed in his number she went straight to voicemail. “No news,” she told him, “but you probably already know that. Are you still with the police? Call when you get this.” Turning back to the others, she said to Richard, “Do you think a televised appeal is a good idea?”

“Actually, I do,” he replied. “If she’s hiding out somewhere and sees it and realizes how worried you are, it could make all the difference.”

Jenna nodded and took the tea her mother was passing. Of course it made sense to try to communicate with Paige in any way she could; she just didn’t want to become one of the tragic mothers she’d watched so many times on the news. It wasn’t who they were. Things like this didn’t happen to their family, and yet it was happening, right here and now, and she had to drag herself out of this need to deny it or she was going to be of no help at all.

“Would you like me to go?” Oliver offered as someone knocked on the front door.

“Please,” Jenna responded. “If it’s someone from the press, say I’m not here, and if it’s one of the neighbors, tell them I’m having a lie-down.”

As they waited for him to come back Jenna was tempted to tell Richard about Paige’s crush on his son, but before she could decide whether it might be breaking Paige’s confidence the sound of raised voices reached them.

Putting their cups down, they hurried to the front door, where a stocky blond woman with a furious red face was shouting at Oliver. It wasn’t clear at first why she was so angry. When Jenna understood the reason, she turned cold to her core.

“Get her out of here,” she said to Richard. “Please. Do whatever it takes.”

Moving past his son, Richard said to the woman, “Mrs. Durham, you shouldn’t be here.”

“And she shouldn’t be accusing my girl of things she hasn’t done. It’s not my Kelly’s fault your daughter has gone and run off.”

“Yes, it is her fault,” Cullum shouted from behind them. “I saw what she did to Paige. I know what she’s like, everyone does.”

Mrs. Durham’s face twitched.

“It’s time to go,” Richard told her. “Please leave.”

“It was others that put her up to it,” Mrs. Durham cried as she got into her car. “My Kelly can’t take all the blame. The way everyone’s turning on her…”

“It’s what she deserves, the way she turned everyone against Paige,” Cullum called after her. “The messages my brother got, we know they came from her.”