Kit is heading back to Kittiwake to see if Hannah’s turned up there, when he spots Vlad driving a golf buggy towards him, a woman wrapped in a silver space blanket leaning heavily against the nurse in the back. She raises her head as they pass, and he realises it’s Charlotte. He runs towards them, calling ‘Charlotte! Charlotte!’ and Vlad stops.
Charlotte’s face is a swollen mess of cuts and bruises. She’s shivering in violent spasms and her eyes don’t seem to be focusing. Kelly hugs the girl to her side.
‘Charlotte, what—? Are you okay? Is she okay?’
Charlotte says nothing. She closes her eyes.
‘What the hell happened to her?’ asks Kit.
‘We’re taking her to the hospital right now. Emma just found her like this,’ explains Vlad. ‘Have to get going.’
‘Some madman attacked her,’ says Kelly. The nurse looks upset and angry. ‘She said it was somewhere up the North End 275yesterday. Police are on their way over. Check on Hannah and your mum!’
‘Who? What—?’
‘Now!’ says Kelly. ‘Make sure they’re both okay!’
Kit leans in and asks, ‘Charlotte, who did this to you?’
She whispers something that doesn’t make any sense and Vlad says again, ‘We have to get going,’ and the golf buggy pulls away.
‘Some man in a balaclava,’ shouts Kelly as they pass. ‘Some bloody madman is on the loose.’
Kit tries to make sense of this news. Who’d want to hurt Charlotte? He jogs up to Falcon, which is nearer than Kittiwake, and bursts in to find his mother splayed on the sofa.
‘Mother. Mother! Mum!’ Is she asleep or unconscious?
Beatrice hates to be called Mum. She stretches slowly. Everything is excruciating. She rolls over carefully, and he gasps.
‘God, your face! What happened?’
Beatrice says nothing because she has no clear memory of what exactly happened, but she senses it’s terrible, whatever it was. She tries to keep very still as everything hurts. Her son will accuse her of drinking too much and start nagging again. It is so wearisome.
But then she remembers, and she winces.
‘Are you injured anywhere else?’ His mother looks as bad as Charlotte.
Beatrice attempts to shake her head and winces again.
Kit kneels before her, looking so worried it brings tears to Beatrice’s eyes.
Kit is shocked by his mother’s display of emotion. ‘Is it bad? 276Where does it hurt?’ he asks.
Her voice is shaky. ‘It’s nothing to worry about, darling. I’m just a little woozy.’
Speaking is a trial. Her jaw throbs. She is desperately touched that her son is so concerned.
‘What happened?’
‘I had a … tumble. Running. There was a man …’
‘Were you up at the North End with Charlotte?’
‘Why—?’
‘Because I’ve just seen her. God! She’s in a terrible state. They’re taking her to hospital right now. A man attacked her up there yesterday!’
‘A man. Yes. Couldn’t see his face … I was so frightened …’
‘Were you with her? Was it the same man? The one in the balaclava?’
‘It must have been him. I was so scared …’ Her son, her lovely boy … She pats his hand.
‘Did you see Hannah anywhere up there?’
‘No, darling.’
‘Not at all yesterday?’
‘No.’ A shooting pain through her jaw makes her flinch.
‘Where were you? What happened exactly? Could you tell who it was?’
Kit holds her hand. It hurts, but she doesn’t pull it away.
‘No, darling. No. He was wearing that thing over his face. But I didn’t see Charlotte. I did go to look for her. I was worried because she was out … in that awful weather. But I didn’t see her. Or Hannah. Did he hurt Hannah too?’
‘Hannah’s missing,’ he says. ‘She’s out there somewhere and there’s a madman prowling the island!’ He bursts into noisy tears. 277
‘It will all be alright, darling. I promise,’ soothes Beatrice. ‘But how is poor Charlotte? What did he do to her?’
Kit tells her the little he knows and then uses his mother’s phone to call the Old Ship, despite her protests that she doesn’t need help.
‘But you do,’ he says. ‘And we need to warn people. He’s still out there.’
When he’s told Alison what’s happened to his mother, and asked for medical help and police assistance, he makes Beatrice a cup of Earl Grey, spooning in some honey to help with the shock.
Beatrice considers asking for a little brandy but thinks better of it.
They wait for a first-aider to come round to check over Beatrice’s injuries and for Sergeant Jack Moore to arrive from St Mary’s.
And as soon as he opens the door, before the policeman questions his mother, Kit reports Hannah missing.