on. And long trousers. People usually wear shorts to the beach, and they don’t wear shoes.”
“And he talked to Frankie?” Gray asked.
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I think so, because she was walking over there, and he was sort of walking toward her, too. But then I was chasing Maddy, and I didn’t look anymore. I didn’t know it was important.”
Gray said, “You did well.” He looked at me. “What else?”
“Could you tell what color of hair he had?” I asked. “What kind of trousers he was wearing?”
Jack said, “He was just a regular person.”
“Was his hair blond?” I asked. “Like your mum’s? Shining, in the sun? Or more like mine?”
“It wasn’t shining,” Jack said.
“And was he wearing jeans?” I asked. “Track pants?”
Jack screwed up his face, trying to remember.
“He’s standing near the tunnel,” I said. “Where it’s darker. And then he’s walking toward you across the sand. Running, maybe.”
“He wasn’t running,” Jack said. “He was walking. And he wasn’t wearing track pants. It was regular trousers. But I don’t remember.”
We sat and looked at each other. Sometime in there, Drew had come out of the bath with the little girls. It was a crowd, and I wanted to think of something, to do something, but I couldn’t think of what came next.
Gray said, “Uncle Aaron.”
Oh. I went for my phone, and then I stopped and asked him, “Which of us should call?”
“You,” he said. “All I can do is try to scare him, but he loves you. Love’s better leverage.”
The phone rang five times before Uncle Aaron answered. He said, “Yes?” Cautiously.
I said, “Is Gilead there?”
He paused a minute without answering, then asked, “Why?”
“Because he’s taken Frankie. Fruitful.” Was I sure that was true? No, except in my bones. In my bones, I was a hundred percent sure.
Why hadn’t she called out, though? Why had she walked toward him?
Aaron said, “I don’t know if he’s here. I saw him at lunch, though.”
“Can you find out?” I asked. “Please? It’s important.”
He said, “If she’s with him, are you sure she didn’t want to go?”
I said, “Yes.” Even though I wasn’t one bit sure.
He said, “The marriage vow is sacred, Daisy.” His voice was gentle. Understanding. And I was trying so hard to stay in the Decision Zone, not to cry. Not to give in to the fear. My fingers were on my forehead, my hand clutching the phone so tightly, it hurt.
Gray came over to stand beside me.
I said, “I don’t believe she went willingly. Just tell me if he’s there. If he is, she was abducted by somebody else, and I need to ring the police.”
He said, “I will. But if she came back to be with her husband, there’s nothing you can do.”
I didn’t say what I thought. I didn’t tell him, There’s everything I can do, because I’ll stop at nothing. But I thought it. I said, “Will you call me again if you see him? Or if you see her? If he brings her back?”
Another long pause, and Aaron said, “Yes.” And rang off.
Gray had his own phone out, was hitting a button. I asked, “Who are you calling?”
He said, “Gilead.”
The knot of anxiety twisted up even higher as I waited, and nobody else was saying a thing. After a minute, though, he hit the button to end the call. He tried twice more, rang off, and said, “Nothing. It’s turned off, or he’s not picking up.”
“Oh. Why didn’t I—” I’d totally forgotten. How had I forgotten? I dialed Frankie’s number. And heard the ring from inside the house. From the bedroom.
They’d taken a walk down the road, and they weren’t used to carrying a phone. They wouldn’t have imagined a need.
After that, we all looked at each other while Oriana sat on the couch, hunched and miserable and sandy and cold.
Cold. I said, “Go take a shower.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t. I didn’t … Frankie …”
Another knock at the door, and everybody jumped. Honor headed over, but Gray was faster, flinging the door open. To reveal Iris. Wearing another skirt.
She said, “What? Honor invited me to dinner. It’s not just your house.”
Oriana was running across the floor and throwing herself into Iris’s bony arms. Iris reached up awkwardly to hold her and said, “What the hell?”
Gray said, “Gilead took Frankie. We think.”
“Oh,” Iris said. “Then what are you sitting here for?”