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“Something must have happened.” Iris could hear the alarm in his voice. “I’m going to look for her. Do you know where she went?”
“I’ll come with you,” Gabriel said, as if suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. “Come to the house and we can try and trace her steps. She and Iris usually take the track over the fields.”
“Be with you in ten.”
Gabriel hung up. He might not have been worried before, but he was now.
37
Iris stood by the window, her arms wrapped around her body, shivering at the storm raging outside. Worry gnawed in the pit of her stomach. Gabriel and Joseph had been gone over an hour, and she’d been calling Gabriel every fifteen minutes to check if they’d found Laure.
“It’s impossible!” he’d shouted over the noise of the wind and the rain when she’d last phoned. “We’re on our way back. We’ll come out again when the wind has dropped!”
The police had been helpful when she’d called to report Laure missing, but not so helpful as to send out a search party. This may have been partly because, when she had explained about Laure—who she was, why she was staying with them—the police had suggested that Laure might have decided to return to Paris. Iris had pointed out that Laure wouldn’t have gone without letting her know but they hadn’t seemed convinced.
Hearing a noise, she pressed her face to the window and saw Gabriel, almost doubled over against the wind, fighting his way up the driveway. She rushed to open the door. Gabriel pushed his way in and she slammed the door behind him.
“Here, let me help you.” She pulled his sopping jacket from his shoulders. His hair was plastered to his forehead and water ran down his face. “I’ll get you a towel.”
“We only made it to the top of the hill,” he said, his voice hoarse. “We called and called but even if she’d been ten feet away, I doubt she’d have heard. It’s vicious out there.” He bent to take off his boots. “Don’t bother with a towel, I’ll jump in the shower. I need to get some heat into me. But I could murder something hot to drink.”
While he was in the shower, Iris made tea. They sat at the kitchen table, Gabriel eating his way through a packet of biscuits.
“The police said something,” Iris said. “I dismissed it at the time but now I’m wondering. They said Laure might have decided to go back to Paris. But she wouldn’t have gone without telling us, would she?”
Gabriel frowned. “I don’t think so.”
“She knows we would worry about her if she suddenly disappeared. And wouldn’t she have said something to Joseph about leaving?”
“Not if they’d had an argument. Maybe that was why she left, because of the argument.”
“But where would she have gone, if she’s not at Esme and Hugh’s? She doesn’t know anyone else.”
“Maybe she went to a hotel.”
“But not without telling us, surely?”
Gabriel scrunched the empty biscuit packet in his hand. “Let’s try and get some sleep. As soon as it’s light, I’ll go out again.”
“What if she turns up when we’re in bed? How will we know?”
He scratched his head. “I’ll stay up. You go to bed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll keep trying her phone. If I hear anything, I’ll wake you.”
38
Groggy with sleep, Iris pushed open Laure’s bedroom door. Her bed was still empty.
“Iris?” Gabriel’s voice came from downstairs. He was standing in the hallway, rubbing his eyes. “Is she back? I nodded off for a few minutes.”
She moved to the top of the stairs. “No. What time is it?”
“I don’t know. Last time I looked it was four o’clock and I don’t think I was asleep for very long, so four thirty maybe? I’ll check.” He went back into the sitting room. “It’s four thirty-five!” he called. “It’s light, I’m going to look for her.”
“I’ll come with you. Just let me get dressed.”
