normal. But Amy knew from bitter experience that men who appeared pleasant and ordinary at first could be anything but.
She turned to Gary, who was checking his watch. ‘Take a look.’
He leaned forward and read the list of names aloud. ‘Ross – Rosski20; Shaun – Notthesheep; Daniel – DannyBoy? He gave her a puzzled look. ‘What exactly are we looking for?’
‘Becky had a date on Thursday night. I’m trying to find out who it was with.’
‘Well, all of these messages are from ages ago. There’s nothing about a date last weekend.’
‘I know. But if she’d already been on a date with this guy – starting back with one of these messages – they probably would have switched to arranging things by phone or text.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ He slapped his own forehead. ‘I’m an idiot. But you’re good at this.’
‘What?’
‘Investigating.’
‘I don’t think so.’
He smiled at her. ‘Yeah, you are. You’re clever. Becky’s lucky to have someone so smart watching out for her.’
She flicked her eyes up to his and couldn’t help but enjoy the praise, feeling it like warm sunshine on her face. But a moment later, the dark cloud returned along with a stab of guilt. What was she doing flirting – was it flirting? – with Gary, when Becky was missing?
She stared at the list and tapped the desk, thinking, wondering. Becky hadn’t been seen since Wednesday, and trawling through Becky’s computer was making Amy even more convinced that something awful had happened to her. There was nothing on there to suggest Becky had been unhappy or having problems. No weird emails. No gloomy Facebook status updates. Both Gary and Katherine said that Becky had seemed fine when they’d last seen her. Happy, in fact, according to Katherine. Excited.
Amy went over to Becky’s new iMac, opened the web browser and went on to Google, which showed a list of Becky’s recent searches. All of the searches were completely innocuous:
Kate Middleton dress
;
Chinese takeaway SE21
;
Made in Chelsea.
Nothing to suggest she was depressed or had any worries. Neither were there any searches about flights to Asia or accommodation over there.
No evidence at all that she had been planning to flee the country, nor that there was any reason for her to do so.
She needed to track down the hot date urgently. Because she could only think of two scenarios:
One: Becky had been in love with this guy but he had let her down, broken her heart and sent her into a wild tailspin, making her leave the country in a desperate bid to get away from him and forget him. Amy would have hoped that Becky might have confided in her, had this been the case – but she supposed that she never told Becky anything about Nathan, not until it was too late.
Two: He had done something much worse than break her heart.
‘What are you going to do next?’ Gary asked.
She shook her head, stood up and crossed over to the bookshelf, picking up the framed photo of her and Becky, hugging it against her chest. The flat seemed to be mourning its owner, the sunlight that washed the room felt cold, the sofa looked sad and empty. A peace lily drooped its head on the windowsill, and Amy went into the kitchen and filled a small jug, returning to water the plant.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘What do you think I should do?’
He flexed his shoulders and she could almost hear the muscles pop. ‘The obvious thing, I guess, would be to call the blokes she emailed.’
‘But I can’t do that. I can’t just call them.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because … for one thing, I don’t have their numbers, and for another … what if one of them has done something to her?’
Gary’s eyes widened. ‘You don’t think Becky’s been
murdered
?’
Hearing the word out loud made Amy’s eyes fill with tears and for a moment she was unable to reply. ‘I don’t know. But there has to be a chance. Someone sent that email, didn’t they?’ She told him about Cambodia.
Amy
She turned to Gary, who was checking his watch. ‘Take a look.’
He leaned forward and read the list of names aloud. ‘Ross – Rosski20; Shaun – Notthesheep; Daniel – DannyBoy? He gave her a puzzled look. ‘What exactly are we looking for?’
‘Becky had a date on Thursday night. I’m trying to find out who it was with.’
‘Well, all of these messages are from ages ago. There’s nothing about a date last weekend.’
‘I know. But if she’d already been on a date with this guy – starting back with one of these messages – they probably would have switched to arranging things by phone or text.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ He slapped his own forehead. ‘I’m an idiot. But you’re good at this.’
‘What?’
‘Investigating.’
‘I don’t think so.’
He smiled at her. ‘Yeah, you are. You’re clever. Becky’s lucky to have someone so smart watching out for her.’
She flicked her eyes up to his and couldn’t help but enjoy the praise, feeling it like warm sunshine on her face. But a moment later, the dark cloud returned along with a stab of guilt. What was she doing flirting – was it flirting? – with Gary, when Becky was missing?
She stared at the list and tapped the desk, thinking, wondering. Becky hadn’t been seen since Wednesday, and trawling through Becky’s computer was making Amy even more convinced that something awful had happened to her. There was nothing on there to suggest Becky had been unhappy or having problems. No weird emails. No gloomy Facebook status updates. Both Gary and Katherine said that Becky had seemed fine when they’d last seen her. Happy, in fact, according to Katherine. Excited.
Amy went over to Becky’s new iMac, opened the web browser and went on to Google, which showed a list of Becky’s recent searches. All of the searches were completely innocuous:
Kate Middleton dress
;
Chinese takeaway SE21
;
Made in Chelsea.
Nothing to suggest she was depressed or had any worries. Neither were there any searches about flights to Asia or accommodation over there.
No evidence at all that she had been planning to flee the country, nor that there was any reason for her to do so.
She needed to track down the hot date urgently. Because she could only think of two scenarios:
One: Becky had been in love with this guy but he had let her down, broken her heart and sent her into a wild tailspin, making her leave the country in a desperate bid to get away from him and forget him. Amy would have hoped that Becky might have confided in her, had this been the case – but she supposed that she never told Becky anything about Nathan, not until it was too late.
Two: He had done something much worse than break her heart.
‘What are you going to do next?’ Gary asked.
She shook her head, stood up and crossed over to the bookshelf, picking up the framed photo of her and Becky, hugging it against her chest. The flat seemed to be mourning its owner, the sunlight that washed the room felt cold, the sofa looked sad and empty. A peace lily drooped its head on the windowsill, and Amy went into the kitchen and filled a small jug, returning to water the plant.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘What do you think I should do?’
He flexed his shoulders and she could almost hear the muscles pop. ‘The obvious thing, I guess, would be to call the blokes she emailed.’
‘But I can’t do that. I can’t just call them.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because … for one thing, I don’t have their numbers, and for another … what if one of them has done something to her?’
Gary’s eyes widened. ‘You don’t think Becky’s been
murdered
?’
Hearing the word out loud made Amy’s eyes fill with tears and for a moment she was unable to reply. ‘I don’t know. But there has to be a chance. Someone sent that email, didn’t they?’ She told him about Cambodia.
Amy
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