Tris had stood on the riverbank and watched the two kayaks and their occupants disappear under the stone bridge and out of sight. He gave a resolute sigh. There was no point trying to catch them. Even if he went and got his car, they’d be long gone by then.
He trudged up to the croft and was greeted at the door by Zoe.
‘What happened? Where are they?’
‘Gone. They took the kayaks.’
Whatever Zoe was about to say, she checked herself at the last moment and pressed her lips firmly together. Her features finally found an amicable setting before she spoke. ‘Right, so, it’s just me and you, then.’
‘Looks that way. What about Andrea?’
‘We need to get help. We’ll take your car and head into the nearest town. There’s no point us trying to find her, we can’t do anything. We need to let the Search and Rescue team do their stuff.’
‘We’d better go straight away or it will only raise questions why we didn’t report this as soon as possible.’
Tris climbed on his pushbike and set off for the bothy he’d been staying in about two miles away. He’d left his car parked out of sight around the back.
Twenty minutes later he returned and began loading Zoe’s belongings into the boot. He gave a last look at the croft before climbing into the car. He wouldn’t admit it to Zoe, but he could feel a little ball of nerves rolling around in his stomach. They were about to give the performance of a lifetime at the police station. He wasn’t naïve enough to think it would all be plain sailing, but as long as they held their nerve, they should be OK. He smiled at her. ‘You all right?’
‘Yeah, fine.’
Since she was clearly in no mood to talk, they sat in silence as the car made its way down the track and over the bridge. Tris’s BMW wasn’t the best of vehicles to be taking along the unmade road and he took it steady as it dipped and rolled through potholes, while small gravel stones pinged the wheel arches and the tyres crunched across the ground.
Eventually, they reached the end of the track and turned on to a small tarmac road which wound its way through the craggy hillside. Tris looked over at Zoe and was surprised to see she had a small mobile phone in her hand.
‘Where did that come from?’ he asked.
‘It’s a spare,’ she said, without looking at him. Her thumb was clicking away on the keypad as she composed a text message.
‘What do you mean, a spare? I thought we said we’d leave the phones at the croft?’
‘Yeah, well, I forgot I had this one on me. It’s an old one. My just-in-case backup phone. It’s not a smart phone, it can barely cope with messages and phone calls, let alone anything fancy like taking a decent picture.’
Tris took another glance at it. ‘I see you’ve got a signal now.’
‘Only one bar. I’m texting the kids to make sure they’re OK.’
‘You’d better not let the police know you’ve got that,’ said Tris, feeling agitated that she’d not mentioned the spare phone before. ‘In fact, probably best not to text the kids in case the police start checking phone records.’
‘It’s OK, it’s a pay as you go. They won’t be able to trace it.’
‘Since when did you become an IT expert?’ The agitation ramped up a level. ‘For fuck’s sake, Zoe. Put the bloody thing away. Switch it off!’
‘I will. Soon as I’ve had a reply.’ As if conjuring up the response, Zoe’s phone made a ping-pong sound. ‘And there it is,’ she said.
‘Now can you switch the fucking thing off,’ snapped Tris. Not for one minute did he believe she was texting the kids. Keeping an eye on the road ahead while continuing to watch Zoe, he saw her switch the phone off and push it into the side pocket of her handbag. Somehow he was going to have to separate Zoe and her handbag so he could take a look at that phone.
‘Before we go to the police station, can we stop somewhere so I can freshen up? I could do with going to the loo.’
Tris was about to tell her that it would probably look more authentic if they arrived in a dishevelled and hurried state, but changed his mind. A stop-off might give him a chance to look at the phone. ‘Yeah, sure. There’s a garage on the outskirts of Gormston. We can stop there.’
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up outside the petrol station.
‘I won’t be long,’ said Zoe. ‘I’ll grab a bottle of water while I’m in there. Do you want anything?’ She reached down for her bag.
‘Here, take my wallet,’ he said, before she could pick up her bag. ‘Use the cash in the side. I’ll have a bottle of water too.’
Zoe took the wallet and trotted off into the garage. Tris wasted no time in diving his hand into her bag and whipping out the phone. It took ages to come to life, but eventually a little tune played out and the screen lit up.
‘Bloody thing,’ cursed Tris as he tried to work out how to get into the message box; this thing was a bloody relic. He was surprised to see an exchange of messages between Zoe’s phone and another number. There was no name allocated to the other number. Tris glanced up at the petrol station to make sure she wasn’t on her way out. He couldn’t see her, so assumed she was still in the toilets.
He clicked open the message stream.
Message sent: All ok?
Message received: Yes.
Message sent: Completely?
Message received: 100%
Tris frowned and reread the exchange. He checked for other messages, but there weren’t any and the contacts list was empty apart from this one number.
The car door opened, making Tris jump. Fuck! It was Zoe and he’d been caught red-handed.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked as she dropped into the seat. ‘You’ve been in my handbag!’ She snatched the phone from him.
There was no point in denying it or even pretending he was doing anything other than being nosy. ‘I wanted to know who you’d messaged.’
‘I told you. The boys.’
‘Pretty glib conversation.’
‘They’re teenage boys. What do you expect?’ She switched the phone off and replaced it in her bag. ‘Now, let’s get this over with.’