‘Kids, huh?’ he said. ‘I’m glad Sally and I never had any.’
I made a non-committal noise – I didn’t need to hear this guy talk at all, much less about his dead wife – and then Connie came back outside. ‘Nope. No note.’ She looked properly scared now. Her eyes glistened and she wiped at them with the back of her hand.
‘I’m gonna kill him,’ David said. ‘Making us worry like this.’
‘They’re teenagers,’ said Neal. ‘They think they’re grown up and don’t—’
The look Connie gave him made him shut his mouth, and he raised his hands apologetically.
‘We need to search for him,’ she said.
‘Both of them,’ said David, looking at me, and I had no choice but to nod.
‘When did you last see Frankie?’ Connie asked.
I decided there was no harm in being honest about this. As long as I didn’t say anything else. ‘She came and found me while Neal was giving his talk. Then I walked her back to our cabin before popping out again.’
‘What time was that?’
I had lost track. ‘Just before ten, I think. Maybe nine thirty.’
They didn’t know what had happened that afternoon with Buddy and Darlene. I had been trying to talk to David earlier but he hadn’t stopped to listen. Did they know anything at all about what had been going on this week? Were they aware their son had upset the locals with his Instagram post? I didn’t think so, and they certainly wouldn’t know about the masked people in the woods. Wouldn’t know that I was sure one of them, the man in the crow mask, was Greg. This explained, I realised, why Greg, or his children, had left a note only for me. I was the only one who had some idea of what was going on. The only person who would suspect Greg and his kids of being responsible for Frankie and Ryan’s disappearance, who could damage Greg’s plan – whatever the hell it was – by going to the police.
‘You seem really freaking agitated,’ David said to me.
‘Huh?’ I snapped out of my thoughts. They were all staring at me. ‘I am agitated.’ I turned away from them, sure they would be able to see that I was hiding something. The note burned in my pocket.
‘I’m going to look for them,’ David said.
‘I’ll help,’ said Neal, hauling himself to his feet with a grunt of effort, like he had bad knees.
‘Connie,’ David said. ‘You stay here, in case they come back.’
‘Listen,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you two search the resort, and I’ll go check the woods.’
‘Maybe I should come with you, Tom,’ said David. ‘It’s better if two of us look in the woods between here and Penance.’
I shook my head. ‘No. Honestly. You guys search the resort. The tennis courts, the playground, down by the lake . . . Look behind reception too. They go there sometimes to use the Wi-Fi.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ said Connie.
‘Frankie told me earlier. And I’ll meet you back here in an hour, okay?’
‘You sure you don’t want to call the police now?’ said Neal.
‘No.’ I probably said it too effusively. ‘I mean, if they’ve just snuck off to . . . do whatever teenagers do, we don’t want to waste police time, do we?’
‘I agree,’ said David. It seemed to me that he was convinced his son was doing the kind of thing David had done when he was fifteen. Connie was more concerned. Maybe she knew about Ryan’s sexuality but was reluctant to tell her husband, at least not yet. And David was pretending to be worried for his wife’s sake. There were so many layers of deceit here that it was hard to keep up.
‘Do you have a flashlight I can borrow?’ I asked. ‘The woods are dark.’
‘Sure.’ David fetched me one.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you back here in an hour.’
They headed off towards the centre of the resort, and I went back over to lock up my cabin. I leaned against the door and took a few deep breaths, looking at the spot where Nikki had kissed me.
She had delayed my return to the cabin so Greg could take Frankie – and, presumably, Ryan too. The sickening thing was that she had tried to warn me. Even tonight, she had given me a final chance to get out of here. What was going on? Was she being threatened or blackmailed? Could she still help me?
Connie was watching me from their deck, no doubt wondering why I hadn’t already gone into the woods. I was torn. Again, I hadn’t been told to wait in the cabin all night. Instructions weren’t due until tomorrow. But what if they changed their minds, appeared with some new demand? I couldn’t stay here without arousing Connie’s suspicions, though, which would surely be a worse breach of the note’s demands. I’d have to risk it. I needed to do something – to go search the woods for my daughter.