She ends the call without waiting to hear what else Megs might have to say.
Kim and Ryan spend two hours scouring the woods but there is no sign of them. No wells. No holes. No traps. No dropped clues. Nothing. As they pass the accommodation block in the grounds of Maypole House afterwards, Kim glances up at the windows. She remembers Scarlett telling them that Kerryanne Mulligan’s daughter had been with them the night before; Lexie, she said her name was. She and Ryan head for the security gate and ring on a buzzer that says ‘Residence Manager’.
A woman replies.
‘Oh, hi. Is that Kerryanne?’
‘Yes, speaking.’
‘Hi, this is Kim Knox. I live across the common. I think my mum used to look after your mum when she was at Springdale?’
‘Yes, yes. I know you. And I remember your mum. She used to bring Jamaican ginger loaf to my mum’s room when I came to visit her for tea. Paula, wasn’t it?’
Kim smiles at the sound of her mother’s name. ‘Yes! That’s right. And your mum was called Vanda?’
‘Yes! That’s right. Well remembered. How are you? Do you want to come in?’
‘Er, yes, thank you. I’ve got my son with me.’
‘Lovely,’ says Kerryanne. ‘Second floor, room 205.’
There’s the smell of cooking in Kerryanne’s flat, something steaming on a hob. A younger woman sits on the L-shaped sofa facing a terrace that overlooks the woods that Kim has just been trawling for her daughter and her boyfriend.
‘Come in!’ says Kerryanne. ‘Come in. This is my daughter, Lexie, she’s staying with me for a few days. Lexie, this is Kim, she’s the daughter of one of Nana’s carers from Springdale. And your mum. Is she …?’
Kim shakes her head. ‘No. No, she died two years ago.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. She must have been very young?’
‘Sixty-two,’ she says.
‘Oh no. Oh dear. Not that much older than me. I’m so sorry.’
‘Yes, well. And your mother? Is she …?’
‘Four years ago. But she was eighty-eight. So, you know, I can’t complain. But she loved your mum. She really did.’
They smile sadly at each other for a minute thinking of their poor dead mothers, then Kerryanne rallies and says, ‘Anyway, what can I do for you?’
‘Well,’ says Kim, ‘actually, it was Lexie I wanted to talk to.’
Lexie turns at the sound of her name and says, ‘Oh?’
Lexie is a pretty young woman, with mahogany hair cut into a bob with a blunt fringe, large black-framed reading glasses, skinny jeans and an artfully scruffy T-shirt.
‘You were at Scarlett’s house last night?’
‘Yes!’ she answers brightly. ‘How did you know?’
‘Well, because my daughter was there too. Tallulah? And her boyfriend Zach? And the thing is that Tallulah and Zach haven’t come home. And apparently they left there at three a.m. We’ve just been in the woods at the back.’ Kim gestures through the glass sliding door. ‘I thought maybe they’d got lost coming back, but no sign of them. And I know you left early, but I just wondered if you noticed anything. Knew anything. Saw anything. Because I’m running out of ideas here!’ She’s been trying to keep her voice on an even keel, keep her tone normal, but her words begin to crack apart as she reaches her conclusion and then she finds that she is crying. Kerryanne rushes to the kitchen to find her a tissue and Lexie looks at her with genuine concern.
‘Oh, God, I’m so sorry. How horrible. You must be so worried.’
Kim nods and takes the tissue from Kerryanne, holds it to her cheeks.
‘I mean,’ she says, ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m sure they just, you know, kids, they just …’ But she peters off because she’s not sure of any such thing. The only thing she’s sure of is that Tallulah would never leave Noah deliberately and that something terrible must have happened to her.
Kerryanne leads Kim and Ryan to the large sofa and invites them to sit down.