Part 37 (2/2)

Gwen surveyed her kitchen table and the a.s.sembled people with concern. She'd started the morning feeling like a fraud, and now she felt like a very public fraud. 'I don't know if this will help,' she said for the third time.

Ruby patted her shoulder. 'It will. Don't you remember? Gloria always said you could gather power from other people. Like a kind of circuit thing. Electricity.'

'I feel ridiculous.' David was scowling, his usually boyish features twisted and black. He shot an accusing look in Cam's direction. 'Why are you going along with this nonsense? It's a waste of time.'

Cam shrugged.

Gwen swallowed. Gloria had also said that non-believers sapped energy. Maybe this was just going to make it worse. But then, what could be worse than drawing a blank?

Cam was already holding her right hand, and she reached out her left and clasped Ruby's.

Ruby was staring intently at David. 'Please,' she said.

David exhaled. 'Fine.' He picked up Ruby and Cam's hands with an air of martyrdom. Gwen didn't blame him. She felt like she was pouring salt on their wounds. Giving false hope. Every bad thing she'd ever heard levelled at her mum or Iris.

She closed her eyes. The scarf was in the middle of the table, but she didn't need to see it. She had held it and stared at it for so long its image was burned into her brain.

Cam squeezed her hand lightly and she took the impulse and fed it through the rest of her body, squeezing and then relaxing, pus.h.i.+ng the tension out through the soles of her feet. The blank screen in her mind flickered and she ignored it, concentrating on the tension flowing downwards and away. She pictured it moving through the carpet and the floorboards to the foundations of the house. The flickering screen was definitely an image and, gradually, the flickering slowed and the picture cleared.

It wasn't Katie. It was a stone wall. An old stone wall. It was like a photograph taken from the ground, the wall towered above Gwen. She concentrated, looking for clues. Snow thick on the ground, blinding white. The picture s.h.i.+fted so suddenly, Gwen thought she might be sick. Now there was the tip of a shoe. A red trainer. Katie's red trainer. The wall had s.h.i.+fted so that Gwen could see its ragged top and a slice of grey sky. Then the screen went blank. Gwen waited a moment to see if anything came back and then opened her eyes.

Three pairs of eyes stared back at her. Gwen became aware of her stance. She was leaning forward over the table towards the scarf and there was an aching pain in both hands. She was gripping Ruby and Cam so hard her muscles were complaining. She released them. 'Sorry.'

Ruby's face fell and she turned to David. He took her in his arms, gazing stoically at the wall behind.

'No. For hurting your hand,' she clarified hurriedly. 'I think it worked.'

Ruby turned back. 'Katie?'

'I think so. Yes. I saw her trainer. She's lying down next to a stone wall. Old, like a castle or something. Somewhere windy.'

'There aren't any castles around here. Where's the nearest?' Ruby looked around wildly. 'Dorset? Cornwall?'

'It might not be a-' Gwen said.

'I'll Google it.' David had his iPhone out of his pocket.

Cam's phone buzzed and he got up from the table to take it. He listened for a moment, then said, 'Okay, thanks.'

'Harry?' Gwen asked.

'Yep. He's been talking to Katie's friends. No one's seen her, no one had any plans with her.' He hesitated. 'A name came up, though. Luke Taylor.'

Everyone turned and looked at Ruby, who shook her head slowly.

'Apparently she and him have recently hooked up.' He looked at David and quickly amended. 'Become friendly. Friends, I mean. Just friends. People have seen them talking.'

David put his iPhone down. 'You lot go looking for castles. I'm going to have a word with Mr Taylor.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Cam began.

David stood up. 'When you've got a daughter, you come back and tell me that.'

Cam held his hands up. 'Harry is on his way. He's the police and he's also a friend. If the kid knows anything, Harry will find out.'

Ruby put a hand on David's arm. 'Cam's right. Let Harry talk to the boy. I want to go and look for her. I'm going insane just sitting around. I need to do something.'

'Will you tell Harry about what I saw?' Gwen watched Cam carefully, wondering whether he still thought she was delusional or a fraud.

He didn't hesitate. 'I'll text him now. Give me every detail.'

Ruby was still gazing imploringly at David, who was standing very still, a battle etched plainly across his face.

'Let's make a list of the nearest castles; we'll split up and start looking.'

'Sherbourne,' David said. 'That's got to be the nearest.'

'That's near Yeovil. How the h.e.l.l would she have got down there? Why would she-'

'I don't know,' he snapped. 'You asked. I answered. I don't know.'

'What about Castle Combe?' Cam said.

'That's just a village, isn't it?' Ruby said.

'There's a little bit of the original castle left in the woods. Bit of a crumbling wall, basically.' He turned to Gwen. 'Could that be it?'

'We can check it.' Gwen bit her lip. 'It might not even be a castle. I just saw an old wall. It made me think ”castle”, but what if I'm sending you on a wild goose chase?'

Ruby shrugged. 'It's all we've got. And it's better than nothing. We've been door to door all around the party house and everywhere else we can think.'

'Old walls,' Cam said. 'What else has old walls?'

'Really old. And uneven on the top,' Gwen added.

'Bath has plenty of old walls, but they're not in ruins.' Ruby was already pulling on her coat.

'So does Pendleford. What if she's just lying in a field next to a dry stone and Gwen just got the perspective wrong?' David said.

'Hey,' Cam said.

'No, he's right. I don't know.' Gwen sank down onto a chair, put her head in her hands. 'I don't know,' she mumbled. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.' She closed her eyes and reran the two images, trying to see them afresh but intact. What if her faulty memory or desperation added something that wasn't there? Her wild goose chase could spiral even further out of control.

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