Page 76 of The Winter Bride

Annie nodded miserably. ‘I knew I could never have him, so I married Monty. I did love him though,’ she excused herself.

‘And this man’s name? Do I know ’im?’

Annie was just pondering on whether she should tell her about Alex, when a thundering came on the front door and Alfred began to bark.

‘I’d better go and see who that is,’ Annie said and hurried away with Alfred at her heels. A few minutes later she was back with a very worried-looking Jamie.

‘And you say she wasn’t outside the music hall when you got there?’

He shook his head and began to pace.

‘Perhaps you didn’t give her time to get there?’ Annie suggested.

‘I waited outside for over forty minutes,’ he insisted. ‘And I even went inside thinkin’ she might have gone in to wait for me because it’s so cold.’

‘Well, she left in more than enough time.’ Annie chewed her lip. It wasn’t like Nancy to be late, especially for Jamie. Then making a quick decision she asked Marie, ‘Would you mind staying here to watch Adam? Then Jamie and I can walk the route she would have taken and see if we can spot her. Perhaps she met someone she knew and got chatting.’

‘Of course.’

Annie hurried to put a hat and coat on and soon after she and Jamie left side by side. But despite walking the two different routes that Nancy might have taken there and back, an hour later there was no sign of her.

‘I am going to phone my John,’ Marie told them when Jamie and Annie arrived back looking worried. ‘’E will know what to do!’

John arrived within minutes and raced inside. Jamie had gone back out to continue the search, despite Annie asking him to wait for John.

‘Do you think we should phone the police?’ Annie asked in a wobbly voice. Nancy would never have stood Jamie up for no good reason; something must have happened to her.

John shook his head. ‘Not yet. Just tell me what she was wearing and I’ll go out with Jamie to look for her. I want you two to stay here. It’s not safe for women to be walking the streets at night.’

‘Sh-she was wearing a burgundy coat and hat,’ Annie squeaked. ‘And there was someone loitering in the shop doorway across the road earlier. You don’t think whoever it was followed her, do you?’

‘There’s no way of knowing,’ John admitted. ‘Just wait here and don’t answer the door to anyone until either myself or Jamie get back. Marie, see if there’s any brandy in the house and if there is give Annie a glass. She looks like she needs it.’ With that he went back out into the bitterly cold night, pulling up the collar of his overcoat as he went.

It was gone ten o’clock when John and Jamie reappeared.

‘Did you find her?’ Annie asked but they both shook their heads.

‘I think if she isn’t back in another hour, we should phone the police,’ John said, holding his frozen hands out to the fire. Jamie looked dreadful and Marie hurried away to make them all a hot drink.

It was John who made the call to the local police station an hour later and soon after a young constable arrived to take a description of Nancy and what she’d been wearing.

‘Has she ever done this sort of thing before?’ he asked.

Annie almost bit his head off. ‘Of course she hasn’t! Nancy is a decent young woman and she was looking forward to meeting Jamie.’

‘Sorry, ma’am, but I have to ask,’ he apologised.

Annie was tearful by then and fearing the worst.

‘Right, I’ll get this description out to the local officers and we’ll begin searching for her right away,’ the constable promised. ‘In the meantime, if she appears do ring the station immediately and let us know.’

‘Of course.’ Annie followed him downstairs and let him out before finally allowing the tears she’d been holding back to flow.

‘It’s all my fault,’ Jamie said brokenly. ‘If I’d come an’ met ’er like I usually do, none o’ this would ’ave ’appened. But I were out late makin’ deliveries an’ I didn’t want us to miss the start o’ the show.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Annie tried to comfort him. ‘You should get yourself away home otherwise we’ll have your parents thinking you’ve gone missing too. And you and John should go as well,’ she told Marie. ‘There’s nothing more you can do here and there’s no point in us all sitting up.’

‘I am going nowhere!’ Marie said stubbornly and John nodded in agreement.