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She sits up, holding a hand over her lined face.
‘We need to call the police,’ I say.
‘Let’s just look for them before we go escalating things.’ He tells me to search the extension while he goes outside – he’s already searched their part of the house – and he tells Mina to go to Mother and Father’s. ‘Meet in the kitchen in fifteen.’
I nod and then I stop. ‘I didn’t tell you,’ I say, trying to figure out if there’s any reason not to tell them. ‘Lydia called me last night. Rose is missing too.’ As I say it realise Tristan has probably been looking for Rose too, seeing as she’s the one with the tape.
Mina’s hands fly back to her face around her gaping mouth. ‘Frances we spoke for hours last night and you?—’
‘Do you think we might have kept a closer eye on our children if you’d told us?’ says Tristan.
‘Jenna going missing wasn’t enough?’
Mina won’t stop staring.
Tristan shakes his head. ‘I take care of my children,’ he says. ‘Your daughter has always been a flight risk.’
I feel like he’s slapped me.
‘Come on, quick.’ He mills his hand in the air.
‘And then we call the police?’ I say.
He takes one step closer to me. ‘Let’s not waste any more time.’
I stand up, wondering why this feels like a threat.
Jenna, Rose, Ava, Ash.
I’ve spent the night worrying about my brother, when whatever he did in the past is just a distraction. That’s all the children of the people Georgia hates, gone in under twenty-four hours.
64
NOW
They aren’t in our wing of the house. They aren’t anywhere any of us have looked, and now we’re all in the kitchen – the whole family.
‘You’re going to have to call the police,’ I say.
Tristan doesn’t blink. He’s staring intently at nothing, his mind whirring behind his blank face.
The fire has burnt out in the grate. I stand by the Aga, soaking in its heat. The fridge hums. Father is in his robe, but somehow Mother is fully dressed. Her fingers grip one purple bead then another.
I catch Mina’s eye and I feel like I know what she’s thinking.
He did it. My brother. Why else would he hesitate over calling the police? He attacked Georgia’s mother without provocation and left her for dead and it’s all there on that tape.
Every single person in this room knows it. Whether they’re just facing up to it like me, or have been conscious of it all along, I don’t know.
Mina lied for him and married him and had his children and now they’re gone.
The back of my neck itches. I go to press on my throbbing cuts but stop myself. No need for that. Aren’t I hurting enough already?
‘Dear Lord,’ says my father. ‘We are grateful every day for the life you have bestowed upon this family. We have more than most, and will not waste your kindness.’
What my father means by these words is that we will support Tristan in his ambitions for greatness. I want to scream at him, because that isn’t relevant now, is it?
My father opens his mouth to go on with his prayer and I can’t take it. I can’t take it! I jump up, ready to shout, when all of our phones buzz at the same time. Each of us has a new message.
