Rushton was leaving. He was wrong, Gillian was her responsibility, she had to go to the hospital. Evi stood up and set off across the kitchen as the front door slammed behind him. She’d made it halfway along the hallway before Harry caught her.
‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he said.
She shrugged his hand off her arm. ‘This is all my fault,’ she said in a low voice, not wanting to wake the children, not wanting Alice and Gareth to hear how seriously she’d messed up. ‘I’m responsible for her welfare and I betrayed her.’
‘You did nothing of the kind.’ Harry, it seemed, wasn’t capable of speaking quietly. ‘Since we met, you’ve gone out of your way to do the right thing. I’m the one who wouldn’t leave you alone, and if anyone’s to blame it’s me. I’m going to the hospital.’
‘Neither of you are going anywhere.’ As Harry turned from her, Evi could see Gareth in the kitchen doorway. ‘And I’ve heard quite enough self-indulgent crap for one night,’ he continued. ‘Now get back in here, both of you, and help us work out where she put Joe.’
Tom stood in the dark living room, listening to the sounds in the hallway, hoping that someone would open the door and see him and Ebba but not quite able to bring himself to call out. Then the front door slammed shut. He could hear Harry and Evi arguing in the hall and then his dad saying something. Then the adults all went back into the kitchen.
‘I have to get my dad,’ Tom said.
The girl’s whole body trembled. She shook her head and looked at the door, then back at him, then at the window. She took a step towards it.
‘He won’t hurt you,’ said Tom, although the truth was he couldn’t say for certain what his dad would do to someone who’d hurt Joe. She took another step towards the window. She was going, they’d never catch her, an entire team of police officers had been searching the town all day and they hadn’t found her. She’d go and his last chance to find Joe would disappear.
Was it seeing her terror that was lessening his? Because although this was one of the strangest experiences of his life – and he’d had a few lately – Tom was discovering that he wasn’t quite as scared as he’d thought he would be. Pretty scared, admittedly, just not… Joe had never been scared of Ebba.
‘Wait,’ Tom heard himself say. ‘I won’t tell him.’ What was he talking about? That had been the plan, hadn’t it? Hold on to her and call for his dad.
But Millie hadn’t been scared either. When Millie had seen Joe’s drawing of Ebba, her little face had lit up, as if she was looking at the picture of an old friend.
‘Tommy come,’ said Ebba, holding out her hand. She was moving towards the window, in a second she would be gone.
He nodded his head. Was he insane? ‘OK,’ he said.
Alice, Evi and Harry were back at the kitchen table. Only Gareth remained standing. He looked at Evi. ‘What’s your take on where she’d put him?’ he said.
Evi shook her head. ‘Forensics really isn’t my thing,’ she said. ‘I’ve never done any criminal work.’
‘No, but you seem to know Gillian better than anyone else. Would she keep him here or somewhere else?’
Evi gave herself a moment to think. ‘We shouldn’t rule this town out,’ she said at last. ‘This is where she feels at home. If she’s planning to take him to the church when all the fuss has died down, she’ll want to keep him somewhere she can get to him easily. If she wants to keep him alive, she’ll have to feed him. And she knows this moor better than anyone. I can’t tell you how many times she’s boasted to me about it. “I know all the best hiding places,” she says.’
‘That’s what I think,’ said Gareth. ‘She’s been here all day. I’ve seen her loads of times. And she doesn’t have a car. She can’t nip in and out of town quickly.’
‘What if she won’t tell them where he is?’ said Alice. ‘If she refuses, we might never find him. If he’s outdoors, he won’t last much longer in this weather. We have to get the police back here. We have to keep looking.’
‘But the whole moor has been crawling with dogs,’ said Harry. ‘They used thermal-imaging equipment. He can’t be on the moor.’
‘The moor is where Gillian feels at home,’ said Evi. ‘It’s the natural place she’d think of hiding him.’
‘If he is still here,’ said Harry, ‘he’s somewhere the dogs and the heat-seekers couldn’t find him.’
Silence.
‘What do you mean?’ said Alice, after a few seconds.
‘Somewhere out of range,’ said Harry. ‘Of the dogs and the equipment.’
‘Water?’ said Gareth. ‘Tonsworth reservoir, that’s less than three miles away. There are buildings near it, where they keep the pumping equipment.’
‘We searched that,’ said Harry. ‘United Utilities opened it up for us. The dogs went in.’
‘Somewhere in the air?’ suggested Evi. ‘I don’t know – in a tree, a tree-house. The dogs wouldn’t find him.’
‘The helicopter would. A big source of heat like a child, even a child’s body – sorry, Alice – would have been picked up by the equipment.’
‘What about underground?’ said Alice. ‘Are there any mines on the moor? Or caves? You know, like in Derbyshire, where they have the Blue John mines.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Gareth. ‘Harry and I were looking at water-resource maps yesterday, I’m sure they’d have indicated any- Oh, Jesus.’
‘What?’ asked Evi. The two men were staring at each other. Then Gareth ran from the room.
‘What is it?’ said Alice. ‘What have you thought of?’
‘Give him a sec,’ said Harry.
They waited, listening to the sound of Gareth fumbling with papers in the other room. Then he was back. He leaned across the table, spreading out a large black and white map. His hand hovered over it for a second.
‘There,’ he said, pointing with one finger. The two women leaned in. Harry stayed where he was. ‘The bore hole.’
‘What’s a bore hole?’ asked Alice.
‘A deep hole in the ground,’ said Gareth. ‘Right down to the water table.’
‘You mean a well?’
Her husband nodded. ‘That’s usually what bore holes are dug for.’
‘Hang on, mate,’ said Harry. ‘I can’t believe that place wasn’t searched. It’s less than half a mile out of town.’
‘But where is it, exactly?’ said Alice. ‘Is it that little stone hut just below Morrell Tor? The one the kids call Little Red Riding Hood’s house? But we’ve seen Gillian there.’
‘I’ve seen her there too,’ admitted Harry. ‘And if she’s been coming and going in the Renshaw house over the years she’d have had plenty of time to steal the key. But it must have been searched.’
‘There can’t be a bore hole in that hut,’ said Alice. ‘Sinclair told me that Jenny and Christiana played in it when they were children.’
‘Bore holes and old wells are usually covered over,’ said Gareth. ‘It’s bloody unsafe to do anything else. But she could have found a way to access it again.’
‘I’m sure it must have been searched,’ said Harry.
‘What’s the range of sniffer dogs?’ said Evi. ‘How deep down a pit would a small child have to be dangling to be out of reach?’
Nobody answered her. Nobody knew. And judging by the looks on their faces, everyone had the same picture in their heads.
‘If he’s far enough underground, maybe the thermal-imaging equipment couldn’t spot him,’ she went on.
‘I need to get up there,’ said Gareth, making for the door.
‘I’m coming too.’ Alice was already on her feet, following him.
Harry jumped up and caught her. ‘You should stay with Tom and Millie,’ he said. ‘I’ll go up. There’s rope in my car. And a harness. We can drive most of the way if we take Gareth’s truck.’ He stopped, a frown furrowing his forehead. ‘The door will be locked,’ he called to Gareth. ‘We’re going to need your tools.’