know Lily wouldn’t willingly let Skye come to any harm. She might be in there herself, injured, needing medical help.
But we don’t stop here. Audrey continues up to the top floor.
I shiver when we get to the top. My apartment door is still open, just as I left it, the landing still eerily quiet.
49
My heart cracks when it becomes obvious Skye isn’t here, but a bolt of fury also shudders through me. My face feels like it’s on fire as I turn to face Audrey.
‘Where is she? Where’s Skye?’ My voice sounds measured even though I’m teetering on the edge of hysteria.
‘It’s important you stay calm, Freya,’ Audrey says. She’s fidgety and her eyes are constantly scanning all around her. ‘This is exactly what we’ve been dreading . . . it’s the reason we had the camera installed, to try and protect you. But you wouldn’t listen.’
‘What are you talking about? Protect me from what?’ She’s making no sense at all.
I run into my apartment, check all the rooms again. No sign of Skye or Mark. A noise outside on the landing has me rushing out again.
A small figure stands very still and apart from Audrey. I exhale with massive relief that she’s here to help me.
‘Lily, thank God you’re OK! Where’s Skye? Did they take her?’
Lily stares at me, and then she smiles. She smiles!
‘Skye is fine, my dear . . . for now, at least.’
There’s a quiet menace about Lily I’ve never seen before, and suddenly, I can’t move. I’m frozen with fear and denial at the realisation that I’ve placed my trust, my precious daughter’s safety, with the wrong person altogether.
‘Where’s my daughter?’ I whisper. My whole body begins to shake. I clasp my hands in front of me to steady them. I don’t want to show my fear, not now, not while I still have a chance to find Skye. ‘I trusted you.’
My daughter has been with her for hours!
‘Of course you did, everybody does.’ She takes a step forward and I press my feet into the floor. I will not move from this place until I have my daughter. ‘It’s incredibly easy, you know, to gain that trust. Most people fall for the clichés of a trustworthy person: small, elderly, smiling, apparently caring. It works all the time for me, so you shouldn’t feel foolish. You’re not the only one.’
‘Skye really liked you. Why would you want to hurt her?’
‘Hurt her?’ Lily frowns, apparently offended. ‘I would never hurt the child. On purpose, that is. She’s very valuable to me, you both are. I couldn’t continue the experiment without your daughter, Freya.’
I feel sick to my stomach. ‘Skye was your . . . experiment?’
She nods and slides a tablet out from under her arm. ‘Your husband dying so inconveniently somewhat ruined our plans for Skye for a while. We thought she’d be too traumatised to be a solid subject, but looking on the bright side, you being alone turned into quite a gift. We’ve been watching you for some time, you see.’
All the creepy feelings I’ve had that someone is watching our every move, blaming Janine Harworth . . . and it’s been them all along.
I shake my head, trying desperately but failing to process her words. ‘But why?’ I eventually manage.
‘In the name of progress. Useful research is virtually impossible these days, we’re restricted at every turn in a world obsessed by ethics and correctness. We need real research on real people. It’s the only way to get results and make headway.’
She shows me a black-and-white still on her tablet.
‘My grandfather carried out one of the most important pieces of research, and it’s still highly relevant today. But he was vilified, labelled as unethical.’ Her mouth twists into a tight knot. ‘Here at Adder House, we are all committed to pushing boundaries in the area of psychology. We gravitated together in our early careers, have known each other for many, many years. The only thing we were missing were subjects . . . real people we could study in a controlled environment.’
I look at Audrey in disgust. ‘All the residents were in on it?’
‘Oh no, those lily-livered fools tried to stop me.’ Lily lets out a brittle laugh. ‘They didn’t want to get involved in any useful, solid experimentation. Two residents even left the house. Cowards who wanted no part in my vitally important studies.’
‘So, both me and my daughter, we’ve been your . . . your lab rats?’
‘Well, that’s an interesting way of