Nancy ran all the way home without stopping. She staggered back into her driveway, bedraggled and out of breath. She unlocked the front door, even knowing as she did that Lara couldn’t be inside the house – she didn’t have a key.
Standing dripping wet mud on the hall floor, she called out Lara’s name but the house was silent. She ran out into the garden, searching by the chickens, the wooded area and near the pool, but Lara wasn’t there either.
Her phone was ringing again. The school.
‘Have you found her?’ she barked.
‘Not yet.’ It was Mr Whitman this time. ‘I know this is an incredibly worrying time for you, but we will find her. I wanted to let you know we’ve checked the CCTV and Lara is on camera leaving the side gate of the school at nine forty-five this morning.’
Nancy’s heart skipped a beat. She looked at her watch. That was over an hour ago.
‘How the hell did she get out? Surely these things are locked?’
‘She used the code.’
‘What?’
‘Yes, the door code. I have no idea how she knew it. For obvious reasons, this kind of information is kept strictly confidential amongst the staff.’
She wasn’t sure if she heard right but was there something about his tone that had an accusatory edge? Or was she imagining it? Nancy shook her head. She couldn’t deal with that now. ‘What about the police?’
‘They’re searching the village. Are you sure there’s nowhere else she might have gone?’
‘No,’ she said desperately.
‘OK. Please keep your phone with you and let us both get in touch as soon as we hear anything.’
They hung up.
Nancy gazed helplessly around. It suddenly hit her hard and a sob caught in her throat. Her ten-year-old daughter was out there somewhere alone.