Luke kept the shaggy helmet of Otis’s hair in his line of vision for a short while after he disappeared from the restaurant. Otis had started out at a brisk pace and then, as he neared the corner of the road, he’d begun to run. Luke picked up his pace to keep up with him and tore around the corner, nearly knocking over an elderly couple as he did so. He saw Otis’s head bobbing, weaving urgently through the crowd. All the way up the road and around the corner he kept Otis in view. And then suddenly he was gone. Just like that.
He rounded the next corner, his heart pounding now with dread. It was Charlotte. That’s who Otis had talked to on the bench outside Angel. It was the same day that Charlotte had turned up outside his office, unannounced, when they’d gone for a beer and she’d showed him photos of the bridesmaid dress she liked. Mere hours earlier she’d been telling his little brother that Maya had been in love with another man. Why? Why was she telling a twelve-year-old boy? And more importantly, had she told him who the other man was?
Luke found himself in a street of terraced houses, empty apart from a woman pushing a pram, and two teenage girls heading in the opposite direction. He stood at the junction, looking all around him. It was the summer holidays. There were children as far as the eye could see. But none of them was Otis.
He kept to the High Street. He didn’t think Otis would take a side turning; this wasn’t his immediate locale, not an area he would be familiar with. He would be more likely to stick to the main roads.
Luke turned right figuring that Otis would be unlikely to cross a busy junction in a hurry. He called Cat to tell her that he couldn’t find him, to tell her to phone him on his mobile, but Cat said Otis had left his phone in the restaurant, that she had it with her. Then he told her to log on to Facebook and put a message on Otis’s wall asking his friends to look out for him. And then to send a text to everyone in his address book. “Shall I call Caroline?” she asked.
“No,” Luke said, “let’s wait a while. He’s bound to head for a friend, or for home. Let’s see what happens when the messages go out. Let’s not freak her out just yet.”
Luke walked for over two miles during the course of the next forty-five minutes. He walked until the soles of his feet had started to chafe against the insoles of his deck shoes because he was wearing no socks. He walked until he was lost and had to call Cat again to find out how to get back to Caroline’s. When he finally got there he was sweating so much that he had dark ovals under the arms of his shirt.
“Well?” he said as Cat opened the door to him. “Anything?”
Cat shook her head and started to cry.
“Come on,” said Luke, guiding her into the front room by her elbow and lowering her into the sofa, “come on. Don’t cry. It’s OK. He’s twelve years old; he’s not a baby. He’ll be fine.”
“Yes, but he was really upset. What if he makes a bad decision? Or what if he does something stupid?”
“He won’t do anything stupid. He’s a bright boy. He’s just keeping his head down until the storm blows over.”
“I think we should call Caroline now,” she said. “It’s been an hour. Oh God, I feel sick.” She made the call and then switched off her phone.
They both turned at the sound of Beau and Pearl running down the stairs together. “We’ve been trying to hack into his Facebook page but we can’t,” said Pearl.
“We’ve tried about a hundred different passwords,” breathed Beau.
“Loads of people have replied to your post on his wall though,” said Pearl, “everyone’s really worried about him.”
“But nobody knows where he is.”
“Although a girl in his class called Hannah said she reckons she saw him in Swanage about an hour ago.”
“Which is completely stupid, because he was in Nando’s with us an hour ago.”
“And I looked up Swanage,” said Pearl, “and it’s about three hours on the train.”
“Good work,” said Cat, squeezing the back of Beau’s leg. “Keep at it. Let me know the minute someone says something helpful.”
They both nodded and ran back up the stairs to the study.
“Dad!” said Cat. “I haven’t told Dad.”
“I’ll call him,” said Luke.
Cat nodded.
“Dad,” said Luke, when his father answered his phone. “It’s me. Listen, Cat and I took the kids out for tea. We got into a bit of a row with Otis and he stormed off. I tried to follow but I lost him. He’s been gone for over an hour. And he didn’t take his phone with him.”
There was a dead silence on the line.
“Dad?”
“Sorry. I mean— Shit. Does Caroline know?”
“Yes, she’s on her way home right now.”
“Jesus. What were you arguing about?”
“Well, it wasn’t an argument exactly.”
“Well, what was it then, exactly?”
Luke paused. “Where are you? Can you come over?”
Now Adrian paused. “I was just leaving the office.” He sounded strangely reticent.
“Then get over here.”
“Yes”—a beat too slow—“yes. Sure. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
“Yeah,” said Luke sourly, “if it’s not too much trouble.”
“It’s not that, Luke. It’s . . . it’s that Jane woman. I’ve found her. I’m supposed to be meeting her in an hour. She’s going to tell me what she knows about Maya.”
“Ah,” said Luke. “Can you reschedule?”
“No. I haven’t got her number. She hasn’t got mine.”
“Ah,” said Luke again. “Well, I’m here. Cat’s here. Caroline’s on her way. But make sure you’ve got a good signal. OK? If I call you and you don’t answer I’ll break both your arms. Seriously.”
“Of course,” said Adrian urgently, “bloody hell, of course. If there’s no signal I’ll make sure we go somewhere where there is a signal. OK? Call me constantly.”
Luke was about to say good-bye and then he stopped and said, “Dad, do you have any idea where Otis might be? I mean, he’s your son. Does anything occur to you?”
He could hear the almost silent exhalation of disappointment on the other end of the line. “No,” said Adrian, “no. I truly do not have a clue.”
“Don’t worry,” said Luke, “I didn’t really think you would.”