Thea peeled open her eyes in the dim light of her room. A heavy weight sat on her chest, and she looked down to see Bonnie and Clyde, two of her foster cats, draped across her. She blinked, and an odd feeling pulsed in her stomach. The sonorous wail of a crow somewhere outside hit her eardrums, but there was no dawn chorus. No birds chattering outside her window. Gently tipping the sleeping tabbies onto the bed, she sat up.
Thea didn’t have an alarm clock. She relied on Horace’s crow to wake her. Today, though, she must have slept through. It wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t fallen asleep until two a.m.
Thea had sat up, scrolling through her phone, looking at articles and pictures of Felix online. They’d included a healthy dose of Adrienne, so to soften the blow, she’d polished off half a bottle of red wine.
She hadn’t allowed herself to mope about him all week. Of course, he’d popped into her head constantly, but she’d pushed out the thoughts. She filed them away for the half an hour of wallowing time she’d allowed herself each evening. And she’dshut down the many conversations Ammy had started about Felix and Lucas.
Thea swung her legs out of bed and pulled on her thin dressing gown over her shorts and T-shirt. Her bedside table was empty. She must have left her phone downstairs. A shiver ran over her skin, and she dragged a brush through her hair before securing it in the green scrunchie she’d worn every day since London. She tugged open the curtains, expecting to see the vibrant light of dawn, but the sun was way higher than she’d imagined.
Thea quirked a brow and tipped her head. There were no sounds in the house. It was Sunday. Ammy always made breakfast on a Sunday morning. Usually, she’d be clanking around in the kitchen, dragging out pots and pans for whatever feast she attempted that day. But there was nothing, only the soft purr of her cats.
Thea left her room, and with her hand trailing the cool of the old hallway wallpaper, she crept around to Ammy’s room, expecting to find her fast asleep, bundled up in her duvet as usual. But when she nudged the old wooden door open, Ammy’s bed was empty. Thea stepped inside. Not only was the bed empty, but someone had drawn the covers up to the pillow. Thea’s heart ticked up a notch at the sight. Ammy never made her bed.
A creeping sensation stretched over the back of her neck. Mr. Tibbins, Ammy’s favourite toy, was gone. On her Peppa Pig pillowcase lay a little envelope covered with kitten stickers.
Nausea washed over Thea, and her already racing heart pounded like a cannon in her chest. With trembling fingers, she ripped open the envelope to find a small handwritten note inside.
Dear Mummy,
I’m going to go and to live with Lucas and Fliex. Plees don’tworry about me. I packt some cupcakes and some milck for the trip. I will fone you layter. Love you.
Ammy xxx
As she read the words, her blood ran cold, and any breath from her lungs now sat in her throat. Thea turned, cast the letter aside, and pulled Ammy’s chest of drawers open. She’d taken some clothes. Felix’s place was ten miles away, in Clavenham. She’d never make it trudging over the fields on her own.
Thea froze. What the hell should she do? She didn’t know which direction Ammy had set off in. Did her daughter even know the way to Clavenham? And why was she going to Felix’s house?
With legs like jelly, Thea flew back through the hallway and down the stairs. She found her phone on the kitchen table, just where she’d left it. It was seven-thirty a.m. Ammy could have been missing for hours.
She picked up her mobile, fumbling four times with the passcode to open it. She should have invested in one of the newer ones with facial recognition. Eventually, when she managed, her fingers hovered over the contacts icon, paralysed. Who should she call? The police? Josh? Felix? All of them were sensible options, but what would be the most practical? Who would be the most useful? Who could she rely on? Chewing at her bottom lip, she called Felix.
After seven rings, he picked up, his voice groggy.
“Thea?”
“Is Ammy with you? She’s gone. She’s on her way to yours.” The quiver in her voice rang out in the quiet kitchen. “I don’t know where she is.”
“Thea, calm down. What happened?”
All the panic she’d bottled up in the last ten minutes and all the emotion she’d squashed down inside from the last week bubbled up, and Thea burst into tears. Heavy sobs racked her body, but after a time, they’d reduced to a thin sniffle.
“Thea. Please speak to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
She sucked in a ragged breath and wiped her snotty nose with the back of her hand. “Ammy left a note. She’s run away.”
“Sorry, what?”
“She’s run away. To live with you and Lucas. I have no idea how long she’s been missing. I slept in.”
Felix’s breath sounded over the phone. “It’s okay.” There was a tightness in Felix’s voice, but his tone was even. Soothing. “Ammy’s not here, but I’ll head over. Help you look for her. The nanny is with us this weekend, so I can leave Lucas.”
Thea let out a long sigh, her chest aching with the effort. “Okay.”
“What about Josh and Kitty?” he asked.
“Kitty is the size of a house, and I don’t want to bother her, but I can send Josh out on one of the horses. To search over the fields. And Daniel. He can help.”
“Okay. Do you want me to call them?”
