After Ben had gone, Grace didn’t even bother contacting the police, knowing Ken Barton was away. Instead she called Niall again.
‘It’s Grace Lockwood,’ she said in a rush as he answered. ‘I’ve found the thousand pounds that Adam took out of the bank. It was hidden under a floorboard – I came across it this afternoon while I was looking for a mouse. He must have put it there for safekeeping, and he just didn’t get a chance to tell me.’ She hesitated, then ploughed on. ‘It seems highly unlikely that Adam would suddenly decide to leave without any money on him … there’s got to be more to it. So how do I get the police interested?’
She waited for his answer, her heart thumping hard.
‘Look, you really need to have a word with someone at the station. I’m not back there until Monday, but if you haven’t got anywhere by then, come down while I’m on duty, and I’ll make sure you get some attention.’
Grace knew he was trying to help, but the lack of urgency in Niall’s tone was dispiriting. For the next few days it looked like all she could do was sit on her hands.
Niall sensed her disappointment. ‘I know the waiting’s hard, but although you’ve made some discoveries, I’m not sure there’s much that’ll give us any new leads.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Look, I might be in Ockton later today. I’ll see if I can do a bit of digging about Jonny Templeton.’
‘Thank you. His sister is called Josephine, if that helps – I don’t know her married name, but I think she still lives in Ockton.’
‘All right then,’ Niall said. ‘I’ll be in touch if I find anything.’
Grace hung up and went over to Millie, picking her up. ‘So what shall we do now?’ she asked her daughter. In reply, Millie screeched and pushed hard against her, struggling until Grace put her down. Grace sat and watched as Millie crawled over to a pile of books, picked them up one by one and riffled briefly through the pages before flinging them aside. Her daughter seemed increasingly unsettled of late. Grace wished Millie could tell her what she had seen on the day Adam had disappeared. That little mind might hold all the answers, if only Grace could access it.
She leaned deeper into the chair cushions, thinking. Adam couldn’t have met with an accident, or Millie would have been found with him. So either he’d run away and chosen to leave his baby behind, or he had been an unwitting victim of some sort. Everyone seemed to think that the first option was more likely, but what if something sinister had happened? In that case, Millie had been left on the doorstep by someone else. Which meant they had known where Grace and Adam lived. And they were probably aware that Grace was back here now.
Her thoughts flashed back to the word LEAVE, its spectral appearance on her car windscreen. Her throat constricted and her lungs began to heave, struggling to draw in oxygen. She looked at her car keys on the table, then towards Millie. Why wasn’t she going? She could make the decision right now; and it would all be over.
It will never be over while you have so many questions, she reminded herself. She just had to keep listening to the calm, rational part of herself and ignore the shrieking voice in her head issuing a stream of dire warnings. After all, she had been living here for a month, and nothing much had actually happened. Only that word written on her car windscreen, which might have been a twisted prank. The rest of it could be put down to chance, or paranoia.
Meanwhile, she was getting closer to uncovering some answers, she knew it. She could at least stay until Monday, and go to the station. In the meantime she would pack up the rest of the cottage; organise it so she was ready to leave whenever she wanted to.
She felt better after running things through in her mind. When Millie went for her lunchtime nap, Grace made herself a sandwich and brought the rest of the papers down from her bedroom to read at the small dining table. There were more letters in Rachel’s handwriting, and she leafed through them. They looked to be newsy – no mention of Jonny, though some lovely references to Adam as a baby which made her nostalgic for Millie’s early days back in London. She bundled all of them up together. She would take them with her as keepsakes for Millie.
As she picked up the final envelope, she found a stack of notes underneath, in handwriting she hadn’t seen before. They were written on identical sheets of white notepad paper, folded in half.
She picked up the first one.
If you go, I will die.
Grace was stunned. Quickly, she found the next one.
I can’t bear the thought of being apart from you. Please don’t go. We can work this out, whatever our parents say. I love you.
Jonny
Grace put it down and picked up another.
I love you.
Then another.
Don’t leave me.
And the last one.
Don’t make me hate you forever.