“Oh dear God. At the casino?”
“Yeah, apparently. Anyway, I hope it makes you feel better that she’s been seen about. The second thing is that I found out she’s no longer in Sydney.”
“She’s not in Sydney? Where is she?”
“I’ll explain. First thing this morning, I took a look at the website that you’d told Detective Yarris about. And it seemed to me that the girls on there are looking for sugar daddies. The girls are looking for gifts, dinners, trips away—”
“That’s right. But what—？”
“Well, it was the trips away part of it that had me wondering. The trips can be within Australia, or anywhere in the world. The man gets company, the girl gets to see the world. That kind of thing. So I did a check on any flights Kara might have taken in the past month. Seems that Kara boarded a flight for the UK about a week ago.”
“The UK? She’s not even here in this country? Who was she with? That man from the casino?”
“That I’m not sure about. She bought her own ticket—to London. So, there’s a chance she flew to London by herself. Her flight might have nothing at all to do with the sugar daddy website. She might have other reasons.”
“All this time,” I breathed softly, “she was in London. She wasn’t even here.”
“Look, I’m not saying she’s still in London. Just that she travelled there from Sydney. All I can tell you with any certainty is that she didn’t return to Australia. Nor did she buy a return flight.”
“Can you find out where she went after that?”
I heard the trace of a sigh. “I’m afraid not. I’ll speak with London police, just to get her name in their system. So far, it doesn’t look like a case of people trafficking or anything like that, but she is underage for the lifestyle she’s been leading. I’ll do what I can to have them follow it up, but there’s probably not a lot they can do. And she’s very close to turning eighteen. I’ll call you again soon to give you a police contact name in London.”
“Okay. Thank you. I appreciate your efforts.” I ended the call, feeling like I was drowning with one hand still above the surface. There was hope, but I remained underwater.
In the detective’s eyes, Kara was a young, independent woman. In my eyes, she was just a little girl. It didn’t seem that long ago she was blowing out the candles at her tenth birthday party.
I called James. I needed to speak to him and hear his voice.
When he answered the phone, his voice was thick with sleep. I’d woken him in the early hours. He was tired, he said, from his business trip to New York. Briefly, I explained about Kara being seen at the casino and her flight to London, leaving out any mention of the men she’d been seeing.
James listened in silence, finally giving a confused, exasperated murmur. “What was she doing at the casino?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she thinks she’s all grown up now and wants to do adult things.”
“Who was she with? I’m really disappointed in her.”
“Me too. All I know is that the police know she was there on a few occasions. She was picked up for a . . . misdemeanour.”
His tone turned quick and sharp. “A misdemeanour? Hell, what did Kara do?”
“Nothing, as it turns out. It turned out to be nothing. No charges. James . . . I know you’re busy, but I need you. Can you meet me in London?”
“Sweetheart . . .”
“Just . . . please. Take some time off.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. You sound frazzled. That’s not good for you.”
“I am frazzled. At the end of my rope.”
“Then come back home. What time is it there? Jump on a plane today. I’ll get someone to find Kara—someone who knows what they’re doing. We’ll find her. Don’t worry. Then we’ll fly straight to wherever she is. And then she’s coming back here to finish college. No ifs or buts. She’s shown us she’s not responsible enough to do this on her own.”
James expected a lot from Kara. After all the money he’d spent on her education and all the time he’d spent patiently tutoring her in math and science, I understood why.
I relaxed a little. James had a plan. Soon, Kara would be back living with us in Lafayette.
“Okay,” I breathed. “Okay, we’ll do that.”
“See you soon, Sweetheart. I’d better get some shut-eye. Big day tomorrow. Would you believe that Snowy tore up the sofa cushions again last night? I think he’s really missing Kara.”