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‘Where was she going?’
‘She didn’t say.’
‘How long was she gone?’
‘Maybe an hour?’
Those guys were idiots. They stood outside a shop for an hour and didn’t find it suspicious? I’d deal with them later. ‘And you didn’t think to ask where she went?’
‘I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me.’
‘Which shop?’
Maeve fidgeted with the hem of her top as she bit her lip. She was still trying to find a way out of betraying her sister.
‘I can ask the guys who escorted you. Either way, I’ll have an answer. It will be much easier if you just tell me.’ There were much quicker ways to get answers, but I was pretty sure Malcolm would draw the line at me torturing an answer out of his youngest kid.
‘Avery’s boutique.’
I fired off a text to Ellis with the info, hoping he’d be able to access some of the CCTV on the high street around the store and follow where she’d gone.
‘Good girl. Next, we need to find her phone.’
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug.
‘Listen to me. What do you think is going to happen if she doesn’t come home? Do you think there is a happy ever after? She left you without a word. Not only does she intend to disappear, but she left you here. And you are next in line.’
Her face paled as I spoke, her eyes widening as my words sunk in.
‘If she isn’t back soon, you’ll be marrying Harold. And he’ll take out this infraction of Esther’s on you. Is that something you will endure for your sister? Are you willing to become Harold’s wife? To marry him to save her? To submit to his dick so she doesn’t have to? That is the position she’s forcing you into.’
Maeve trembled, looking very close to vomiting as my words hit the mark. I hoped Malcolm wouldn’t promise his youngest to Harold, but he must be pretty desperate to appease him. What’s another daughter when you’ve already promised one?
‘He wouldn’t,’ she whispered.
‘Do you really believe that?’
The way her eyebrow furrowed told me she didn’t.
‘What do you want?’
‘I need to find her phone. I know it’s in the house, but I’ve ripped her room apart, and I can’t find it. Did she give it to you?’
‘No. She gave me Mum’s necklace, but nothing else.’
‘Is there anywhere she could have hidden it?’
Maeve sat up straighter as realisation crossed her face. Hope surged in my chest.
‘She’ll be furious with me.’
‘Your father and Harold will be worse, trust me.’
With a resigned sigh, she gave in and stood. ‘Come on. There’s one spot it might be. She used to hide her diary, but I saw her put it away one night when she thought I’d fallen asleep.’
I followed her through to Esther’s room as she gave a sad smile over her shoulder.
‘I used to sneak in and read it. I think it might have been the least salacious diary in the world. Eventually, she binned it and stopped hiding anything. I haven’t thought about it for years.’ Stepping over the mess I’d left strewn on the floor, she picked her way to the far corner and crouched beside the wardrobe. I already knew it was empty, the hope I’d been clinging to shredded. But then she gripped at the skirting board next to the wardrobe and tugged hard. It groaned before giving way, revealing a small dark gap behind it.
