The Girls Who Disappeared(23)

‘A UFO, of course. It blinded me. And then … and then it just sort of disappeared.’

He eyes me stubbornly. Does he really believe what he’s saying? I decide on another tactic. ‘Why did Olivia leave here crying earlier, Ralph?’

He presses his lips together stubbornly. And then he stands up, his leg knocking against the table and nearly unbalancing my phone stand. ‘I think you need to go now.’

I experience a thud of disappointment. ‘Ralph, are you protecting Olivia?’

‘I don’t want to talk about Olivia any more. She told me not to say anything. I’m fed up with everyone asking questions … everyone blaming me!’ His cheeks have turned red and spittle forms on his lips.

‘Told you not to say anything about what?’

‘Please leave now.’ He strides across the caravan and flings open the door. I reluctantly gather up my phone and its stand, dropping them into my bag, and hurry out. ‘Ralph …’ I begin, as I step down onto the wet grass, but he has shut the door in my face.





14





The sky has darkened considerably in the time I’ve been in the caravan. As I head back through the forest I’m thinking about Ralph and our strange conversation when I hear a twig snap behind me. I pause, my body rigid, a creeping sensation at the back of my neck. I turn but nobody’s there. I’m not far from my cabin so I break into a jog, wondering if Ralph has followed me, if I got him wrong and he isn’t some harmless loner after all but a psychopath. I feel a surge of relief when I notice a light is on in Foxglove, the cabin opposite mine, and a shadow passes across the window.

I’m cold and damp by the time I let myself into my own cabin and turn on the lights. I go around closing the curtains, wanting to shut out those trees, which feel like they’re encompassing me, threatening to swallow me. They remind me of a Doctor Who episode I once watched with Finn where trees started sprouting out of the ground and growing out of control, threatening to engulf the town in a blanket of nature. I peel off my wet things and make myself comfortable in the armchair by the fireplace. Then I FaceTime Finn.

My son is in the living room when he answers. Behind him I can see the ink blue feature wall I’d painted last year. He flashes me his cheeky smile but he looks tired. I hope Gavin isn’t letting him stay up too late.

I tell him about the forest and remind him of the Doctor Who episode.

He laughs. ‘Really, Mum! That sounds pretty rad.’

‘Sometimes it feels like they’re going to come in through the windows, their branches like gnarled fingers, trying to grab me. I’m literally in a box in the middle of a forest.’

He giggles and asks to see so I take my phone to the window and pull aside the curtains to show him the forest beyond. A flash of a waxed jacket catches my eye. Is it Ralph coming to find me? Or the person I saw in the cabin opposite? I peer out but everything is smudged due to the rain splatter on the glass and I can’t tell if it was my imagination. I close the curtains and concentrate on what Finn is saying.

‘Wow, I wish I was there,’ he says, as I turn away from the window. ‘We could explore.’ My heart lurches. I wish he was here too. Or that I was there. Right now I’d give anything to be at home with him, curled up on the sofa watching Doctor Who.

‘It’s not exactly Center Parcs,’ I say, and a shiver runs through me at the thought of my excursion to Ralph’s caravan earlier. I’m just glad I managed to get a recording of our conversation.

We talk about school and I spot my mum in the background, zooming in and out of shot as she hands Finn some biscuits and milk. ‘Can I talk to Nanny after?’ I want to ask him about the woman I heard earlier but I don’t want to put him in an awkward position. He just thinks Gavin and I are having a break from each other. And that, soon, we’ll all be back under one roof. It must be confusing and unsettling for him.

He talks more about school and his teacher, Mr Carter, whom he adores, while munching his biscuit. He has ink at the tips of his fingers and his nails are bitten down.

‘Do you want to talk to Nanny now?’ he says.

I nod and say goodbye, blowing him kisses and wishing I was there to give him a hug. The screen blurs as he hands over the iPad to my mum. The top half of her face appears on screen so all I can see is her strawberry-blonde fringe and green eyes.

‘All right, love?’

‘Mum, I can’t see your mouth!’

‘Oh … right. Hold on.’ She moves the screen down. ‘Is that better?’

‘Yeah, much.’

‘How are you getting on? What’s it like there?’ she asks, and I fill her in on everything that’s happened so far. My mum should have been a journalist herself; she’s even nosier than I am. She asks for a tour of the cabin so I turn my phone around to show her the kitchen and the living area, then the bedroom. ‘It’s smart,’ she says approvingly.

‘I miss you all, though. I miss Finn,’ I say, returning to my armchair. I’ve been away with work before, usually just a night, and Finn hasn’t really worried about it. But this is the first time I’ve been away since the split and never for so long.

Mum has now moved into the kitchen and is standing in front of my pale grey Shaker-style larder. I know she’s left Finn on his own so we can talk freely. ‘You’ll be home Friday. Make the most of it. Everything is under control here.’