Toby exchanged a glance with Giovanni, then looked at Diana.
She met his eyes. “Might the Prussians or the Austrians have come to the island? Could they have taken her?”
She could see he wanted to deny it, but instead, his features hardened, and he admitted, “I want to say no, and certainly, there’s been no sign of either group, even in Orta, but…” He grimaced. “We should check.”
Giovanni spoke. “We will go to the dock first and ask about any newcomers to the island. Once we are certain there have been none, and that the bambina hasn’t left, either, we can search and be sure that, eventually, we will find her.”
To Diana, that sounded like an excellent plan, and Toby agreed.
“Giovanni and I will go to the dock.” Toby looked at Diana and Giulia. “Meanwhile, Diana, why don’t you take Bruno and go with Giulia and the boys and ask about the market in case any of the stallholders have seen her?”
Giulia nodded. “Most will still be there, packing up, and she was wearing her pretty pink dress. They will have noticed her.”
Diana readily agreed and sent Bryce to fetch Bruno’s leash and Roland to round up the dog.
Toby and Giovanni left.
After a quick discussion, Helga agreed to remain at the villa. “In case she’s just slipped out somewhere close and comes back.”
As all the island qualified as “somewhere close,” everyone agreed that was wise.
The boys returned with Bruno tugging at the leash as if he understood they were searching and was eager to do his part.
Giulia rushed back to the kitchen to move a pot off the stove, then returned to join Diana, the boys, and Bruno as they left the villa and set out for the piazza.
As they’d hoped, although the market had officially ended, there were still many people milling in the area. Some stallholders were loading hand-drawn carts, while others who had finished tidying up had gathered in loose groups to chat.
The boys took Bruno to scout around, while Diana and Giulia circled the central well, with Giulia describing Evelyn and asking everyone they met whether they’d seen the little girl. As Giulia had predicted, most remembered the pretty girl in the pink dress with the bow in her hair—such a smile!—but their sightings were from earlier, not in the last hour.
They reached the far end of the piazza having uncovered no recent sighting of Evelyn. After gathering the boys and Bruno, who had had no luck in picking up a scent, Diana halted with them and Giulia at the mouth of the lane leading to the dock.
Giulia studied Diana’s face, then patted her arm. “One thing is good. No one has seen her going off with anyone.”
Diana blinked, then tipped her head. “That’s true.”
The sound of firm, striding footsteps coming from the dock heralded Toby and Giovanni. While both looked serious, neither appeared as grim as before.
At Diana’s questioning look, Toby shook his head. “We spoke to the men manning the rowboats. Several are over here because of the market—they’d ferried some of the stallholders across from Orta. But they are all very sure no one who isn’t well known to them has been rowed over.”
Giovanni nodded decisively. “There are no strangers on the island.”
“What’s more,” Toby continued, “no one at the dock has seen Evelyn.”
“So she hasn’t left the island.” Diana felt at least partly relieved.
Toby read her expression and forced himself to nod. Logically, he knew the news from the dock should ease their fears, yet… He’d seen too much, could imagine too many other dangers, to feel easy. Not until they had Evelyn back.
Lurking in a rear corner of his mind was the chance that, somehow, Heinrik—or worse, Jager—had learned of this bolt-hole and found a way to get onto the island.
Some part of him felt he should have taken better care of the children. That he should have hovered more closely, that?—
Diana’s fingers clamped about his wrist. “Stop it.” She caught his eye. “This is not your fault. We were all at the villa when she vanished. If there is any blame, and knowing Evelyn, that’s not at all certain, then we all share it.” She glanced down. “Even Bruno. He usually follows her everywhere, but he was fast asleep.”
Toby recognized the attempt to lighten the moment and redirect his thoughts, and even though Diana couldn’t know just how dark his fears truly were, he fell in with her tack. “The island is small, so now, we search. Thoroughly.”
At Giovanni and Giulia’s insistence, they backtracked the few paces into the piazza, and Giovanni called to friends and neighbors, and soon, a small army had assembled, all concerned and ready to search.
By general consensus, they started from the piazza and went clockwise around the island, following the same route Toby had used to introduce Diana and the children to the place, but peeling off to either side to call at every house and search through every garden.
