Callum was between patients when PCs Wyndham and Holt came into the consulting room that afternoon, followed by a very flustered nurse. He glared at them. ‘This had better be important. I have ward rounds.’ He didn’t bother standing up or shaking hands. A nerve twitched under his left eye.

‘This shouldn’t take long, although you might prefer to speak in private.’ PC Wyndham looked back at the nurse.

‘Thanks, Megan. You can close the door on your way out.’ The nurse did as she was told, looking relieved. ‘What won’t take long?’ Callum pushed back in his chair. ‘I’ve already told you everything I know.’

‘Are you certain about that?’ PC Holt said, sitting in the patients’ chair. PC Wyndham perched on the end of the examination couch, her ankles crossed. ‘It’s slightly unusual, but under the circumstances we made the decision to send a forensics team to both properties earlier today.’

‘And that justifies disturbing a busy surgeon?’

‘I’ll get straight to the point, Mr Rodway. Rain’s fingerprints were found in your bedroom. We’d taken known samples from her phone and other belongings.’

Callum’s mouth went dry. ‘That would make sense. I saw her in there with my wife. They were chatting.’

‘And when was that exactly?’ PC Wyndham removed a small notepad from her inside pocket, poised to write.

‘They arrived early on Saturday morning, so it was… during the afternoon, I think. Yes, it was Saturday afternoon.’

‘What time?’

‘About three?’ Callum felt as though he was asking them, not telling them.

‘Rain’s fingerprints were found on your bed frame. Your side of the bed, incidentally.’

Callum felt his mouth twisting into an odd shape, as if he’d temporarily lost control of it. ‘Again, that makes perfect sense. Claire and Rain were sitting on the bed – my side – while they were chatting.’

‘As you know, the bed base has a deep, polished board running around it. There were many fingerprints and finger smear marks found all along one side of it, and the angle of them indicates that she may have been trying to push herself off the bed while lying on her front. An odd position for her to be chatting in, don’t you think?’

Callum ignored the look on the officer’s face. He wasn’t fazed. ‘I don’t know. I only passed the bedroom doorway. I wasn’t there the whole time.’ He allowed a moment’s silence. ‘Are we done now? I really need to see my next patient.’

‘Of course,’ PC Holt said, standing. ‘I’m sure your wife will confirm your story.’

---

Claire searched for her phone and, remembering she’d left it charging in the hallway, slipped it into her back pocket. Everyone had gone up to the Old Stables, having vacated the farmhouse so the officers could look around, take prints, perhaps get an insight into Rain’s whereabouts from her belongings. Given that was where she had actually been staying, Claire expected them to take a little longer there.

‘How they expect to find anything useful, I don’t know,’ Patrick grumbled. They’d been discussing reasons why the police were focusing on the two properties so early, concluding that if Rain didn’t come back soon, then their investigations would be scaled up and any evidence in the houses might, by that time, have been accidentally destroyed.

After PC Wyndham had left, Maggie had just stood there trembling, looking fragile and unable to talk coherently. In the following few hours, she simply sat where she was told, drank tea when it was made for her, walked up to Claire’s house when the others took her, all with the liaison officer glued to her side. Once or twice, Claire wondered if Maggie was about to tell her something, as though she needed to get something out, but when it didn’t come, she didn’t press her. She didn’t understand why Maggie wasn’t making a greater effort to contact Rain’s father.

Between her childminder and Marcus, Amy was being taken care of. Claire didn’t want her upset by the goings-on – the reunion was now far from the fun gathering she’d planned. Shona was making soup in Claire’s kitchen, though her heart wasn’t in it, evident by the way she slowly stirred the pot, dropping in a few more roughly chopped vegetables she’d found in Claire’s fridge.

‘Pat,’ Shona said, turning towards him. ‘Things are done differently these days.’ She chopped more carrots – anything to keep busy.

Claire stared at her phone, cursing the missed call. ‘Unknown number,’ she whispered, her stomach churning.

‘They’ll leave a message if it’s important,’ Greta said, passing around yet more cups of tea.

Angus had decided that he and Jenny should go home now that Patrick was feeling more himself. ‘Shona doesn’t need more mouths to feed,’ he said, when Jenny thought they should stay to help. Claire hugged them as they left, feeling terrible that they were leaving under such circumstances. But the police had said they wouldn’t be needed for further statements, and Jenny promised to phone later that evening for an update.

As she watched them drive off, Claire’s phone pinged with a voice message. She was about to listen to it, but Nick, Jason and Marcus blustered back in, all talking at once. Maggie mustered enough energy to look up, having just left another message at Rain’s father’s office. He seemed unreachable.

‘We just spoke to the lad who works at the surf shop. His name’s Blake,’ Jason said. ‘He told us that he thought he saw a girl like Rain up near the shop on Sunday afternoon. He’s already been interviewed by the police.’

‘Why didn’t they tell us?’ Claire said, remembering how any information about Lenni had been fed to her parents on a need-to-know basis.

Maggie stood up, gripping the back of her chair.

‘Apparently, Blake saw a girl getting into a car. An old white van, to be precise. It was about 4.30 p.m., he remembers, because he was outside having a smoke and thinking of packing up the surfboards as business was quiet.’ Jason took the tea handed to him. ‘Though judging by what Blake was smoking just now, I’d question his memory.’

‘Is this good news or bad?’ Patrick replied. He stared at his son for a moment before turning away, realising what he’d done several moments after the shock registered on Jason’s face; his father had actually spoken to him.

‘If there’s anything significant to report, Maggie will be the first to know,’ PC Watts said in a tone that urged them not to speculate.

‘But Rain would never get into a van with anyone,’ Maggie said quietly. ‘Not unless she knew them.’ There was silence as everyone digested what that meant. No one dared ask the obvious, whether Blake had seen a struggle.

‘That’s good, then, Mags,’ Claire said. ‘They’re making progress.’ Claire turned her mobile over and over in her hand. ‘And perhaps it was someone she knew. A friend from school or something. It’s a small world.’ She stopped. The possibility of Rain bumping into someone familiar in Trevellin when she’d lived most of her life in a boarding school hundreds of miles away was extremely unlikely. Claire’s phone pinged another alert, so she ducked out into the hallway to listen to the message.

Claire, it’s me. We need to talk urgently. Come to the staff canteen as soon as you can. Text me when you’re here. Claire thought the message had ended, but then Callum added, And keep quiet about it.

She hung up, puzzled. It almost didn’t sound like him. She’d never heard him scared before. She went back into the kitchen, forcing the frown from her face. ‘Jeff called,’ she said, staring at the floor. ‘There’s an important contract and he can’t find it.’ She felt the colour rising in her cheeks. ‘I’ll have to dash into the office quickly.’ She hated lying. ‘But I won’t be long,’ she added, before anyone could say anything. She grabbed her bag and keys, wondering why Callum had sounded so insistent.