Page 33 of The House Swap

The bed was neatly made, but that wasn’t unusual for Keira. What did strike Poppy as odd was there were none of her things out. That first day after they had arrived and Poppy had returned from the shop to find Martin and Elena in the villa, Keira’s room had looked spotless like this, but that was because she hadn’t fully unpacked. Poppy knew for a fact that it hadn’t been like this since.

She checked the wardrobe, remembering that Keira had stored her suitcase in there. It was empty. There was no suitcase, no clothes on the hangers, and no shoes in the bottom.

Her stomach dipped.

‘Okay…’ she murmured under her breath. ‘She has to be somewhere.’

Determined not to panic, Poppy crossed the hall and opened her own bedroom door.

Everything was exactly as she’d left it.

Quicker now, her shoulders tensing as unease built, she checked the other bedrooms and the bathrooms before going back into the kitchen.

‘Keira?’ she called again. Louder now.

She went out onto the terrace, checking the pool and the garden – even peering over the wall.

Nothing.

She pulled out her phone and called her friend. It rang out, but there was no answer, and she couldn’t hear it in the villa.

Unless it was on silent, which would be unusual for Keira, it wasn’t in the house.

After it cut to voicemail, she hung up. Tried again. This time, the automated voice kicked in straightaway. Poppy didn’t leave a message, but she did open WhatsApp. Keira kept her settings private, so there was no way of knowing when she had last been online.

Where are you?

She hit send. Not liking that only one tick showed up on the screen.

A cold sensation crept over her. It was unlike Keira to just leave without saying anything. So where the hell was she?

14

Poppy promised herself she wouldn’t overreact.

Keira was impulsive and always had been. It was quite possible she had gone out for a walk or even to Knossos. She had been keen to go. Poppy less so. So maybe Keira had decided to go without her. There were a dozen harmless explanations and Poppy clung to each one in turn, trying to ignore that none of them explained why her clothes and suitcase had gone.

She placed the groceries on the counter but didn’t pack them away. Instead, she made herself another coffee and told herself to be patient. But as time ticked by, she grew more antsy, her eyes drifting back towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

Why was Keira’s wardrobe empty? Where was all her stuff?

And even though she knew the phone signal could be a bit patchy, the undelivered WhatsApp message bothered her too.

She checked her phone again, just in case the status had changed, but no, there was still only one tick.

A small knot tightened in her chest.

For a moment, she considered calling Tom. He was the one person, aside from Keira, who she spoke to most and he was someone she trusted.

But just as quickly as she’d had the thought, she dismissed it. He had enough going on without having to worry about her drama.

Besides, this would all look ridiculous if Keira walked back through the door in five minutes, carrying pastries and complaining about walking back up the slope.

Poppy forced herself to breathe slowly.

Give it another hour.

She moved around the villa, tidying things that didn’t need tidying, checking the terrace repeatedly, as if Keira might suddenly appear. There was no way she could settle down to work. She would never be able to concentrate.