door. Crossing the road without even looking, she enters by the gates and starts running down the path, her temper rising as she scans the park for a woman with long auburn hair. A few families are already out and about and the café is opening up, but there’s no sign of Amber. She runs around the bare rose garden, but all the benches are empty, then scampers over to the playing field, where a group of men are preparing to play a football match. There’s nobody who looks even vaguely like Amber standing on the sidelines.
Ruby bends over, hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath. There must be a simple explanation for this. Maybe Amber’s phone has run out of juice so she couldn’t get in touch. Maybe she’ll turn up soon with Mabel and a bag of croissants and tell Ruby off for making such a fuss. Maybe they’re already back at the flat. But maybes are not good enough; she needs certainties.
She turns around and makes her way back across the park in the direction of home. Her brain starts to churn, spitting out horrible thoughts. What if the explanation isn’t simple? What if Amber took Mabel without telling her for a reason? What if she’s deliberately not calling her back? Her sister isn’t well. She’s got postnatal depression, even if she won’t admit it. People with mental health issues can’t think straight, they do stupid things to try to solve their problems. They put themselves and others in danger. Her mouth dries as she dares to imagine the worst. If Amber is feeling … she hates even thinking of the word, but it’s there in her brain with a blue flashing light on top … if she is feeling suicidal …
No. She wouldn’t do something like that. She would never harm Mabel.
Unless she’s closer to the edge than Ruby realised. After all, she lied to George about going on the yoga retreat, and she didn’t get in touch once yesterday to ask how Mabel was, which was really odd.
If only she would just bloody well call and put Ruby’s mind at rest.
But what if Amber hasn’t got Mabel? What if it’s George who came home early and took her? Ruby considers this idea for a few seconds before dismissing it. He would have come into the bedroom and woken her up, demanding to know where Amber was and why Ruby was on her own. No, it has to be Amber who has Mabel. There is no other explanation.
She goes back to the flat and paces from room to room. Waves of panic are rising inside her, but she takes deep breaths and tries to swim through them. George needs to know there’s a problem, she thinks; he must come straight away. But she doesn’t have his mobile number and the only person she can think of who might have it is her mother. Alerting Mum is a high-risk strategy. It will set things in motion that will be hard to stop. She’ll probably freak out and call the police, and if it turns out to be a silly misunderstanding, Ruby will get the blame, like she always does.
She’ll give Amber another ten minutes, then she’ll call the police herself and damn the consequences. Hopefully they can send a couple of cars out to find them. It’s about time the family took her sister’s mental health problems seriously. When this scary episode is over, they can make a plan to get her the help she so obviously needs.
Ruby stares at her phone, feeling more and more sick as the seconds tick by. Just as she’s about to give up, the handset vibrates and rings. Amber’s name and photo appear on her screen.
‘Where the hell are you?’ Ruby shouts.
‘Hey, excuse me!’
‘Why didn’t you wake me up? I’ve been going crazy here.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Amber says irritably. ‘I told you it would be difficult to call.’
‘Where are you?’
‘At Gaia Hall, of course. I’m not supposed to have my phone on. If I’m caught, they’ll take it off me.’ Amber pauses. ‘Hello? Are you there?’
Ruby feels as if somebody has just plunged a dagger into her chest. Her heart heaves and cracks. She can’t breathe. Amber isn’t making sense. She can’t still be in Somerset, it’s impossible.
‘Ruby? What’s the matter? Ruby! Talk to me!’
‘But … M-M-Mabel,’ she stutters, feeling herself swaying.
‘What about her? Is she ill? Has she had an accident?’
How can she tell