always go to bed at the same time – they are ‘one of those couples’, as Amber comments to Luke later. Neil seems put out by Jo’s negative response. He shrugs and stomps off upstairs. Everyone listens to his footsteps, which echo through the house for a long time. He and Jo are in the master suite, on the top floor.
Amber and Luke say goodnight and head upstairs to their bedroom on the first floor, leaving Jo, Hilary, Kirsty and Ritchie downstairs in the lounge.
The next morning, Christmas morning, four people who should be there are not. Jo, Neil, William and Barney have disappeared. So has their car. Sabina, the children’s nanny, is mystified. Jo would never go anywhere without her, she says, not if the children were going. ‘Even if William or Barney were ill, and needed to be taken quickly to hospital?’ Hilary asks. ‘Especially then,’ says Sabina. No note has been left anywhere in the house. All mobile phones are checked, but no explanatory messages have been left. Jo’s handbag and Neil’s wallet have gone, but all the Christmas presents are still there, wrapped and waiting beneath the tree. Most of them are for William and Barney. Sabina bursts into tears. ‘Jo would never take her boys away on Christmas morning before they’d opened their presents,’ she says. ‘Something has happened to them.’ She tries to ring first Jo’s mobile phone and then Neil’s, but both are switched off.
Sabina and Hilary want to contact the police, but the others persuade them that it’s too soon, and would be, at this stage, an overreaction. By two o’clock, everybody has come round to their worst-case-scenario way of thinking, and Sabina makes the call.
A detective turns up, asks a lot of questions, says he thinks it unlikely that Jo, Neil and the boys have been removed from Little Orchard against their will. Sabina accuses him of not having listened properly. She tells him to go back to the police station and recharge his solitary brain cell. He nods and stands up to leave, as if he thinks this is a sensible suggestion, and says he will call round again the following day to see if Jo and Neil have been in touch. At the front door, he pauses to announce that Christmas – especially Christmas spent with one’s entire family – can be a very stressful time of year; he tells everybody to bear that in mind.
The rest of the day passes in a blur of tension and misery, punctuated by occasional hysterical outbursts from Pam and Hilary, William and Barney’s two grandmothers, and from Sabina, who keeps saying that she will throw herself off a tall building or swallow a bottle of pills if anything has happened to Jo, Neil and the boys – that’s how much she loves them. Luke gets angry and snaps at her to ‘give it a rest with the suicide talk’. Pam remarks, at one point, that Kirsty is lucky. ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ she says. ‘She doesn’t even know they’re missing.’ Does Amber wonder about what Kirsty does or doesn’t know? She doesn’t even know if there’s a name for what’s wrong with Kirsty; Jo has never volunteered the information.
No presents are opened and no turkey is eaten. That night, nobody sleeps well. Pam and Hilary don’t sleep at all.
The following morning, Amber comes downstairs at quarter past seven and finds Jo in the kitchen with William and Barney. The tips of the boys’ noses are red, the lenses of Jo’s glasses misted over. They look as if they have just walked in. Neil’s jacket and mobile phone are on the counter. ‘Wake everyone up,’ Jo orders, before Amber has a chance to ask her anything. ‘Get everyone together in the lounge.’ She doesn’t look at Amber as she says this.
Amber does as she’s told, and soon the whole family plus Sabina is assembled in the lounge, not daring to move, waiting for the announcement that will explain everything. Jo and Neil are heard whispering in the hall, but no one can make out what they’re saying. Luke and Amber
Amber and Luke say goodnight and head upstairs to their bedroom on the first floor, leaving Jo, Hilary, Kirsty and Ritchie downstairs in the lounge.
The next morning, Christmas morning, four people who should be there are not. Jo, Neil, William and Barney have disappeared. So has their car. Sabina, the children’s nanny, is mystified. Jo would never go anywhere without her, she says, not if the children were going. ‘Even if William or Barney were ill, and needed to be taken quickly to hospital?’ Hilary asks. ‘Especially then,’ says Sabina. No note has been left anywhere in the house. All mobile phones are checked, but no explanatory messages have been left. Jo’s handbag and Neil’s wallet have gone, but all the Christmas presents are still there, wrapped and waiting beneath the tree. Most of them are for William and Barney. Sabina bursts into tears. ‘Jo would never take her boys away on Christmas morning before they’d opened their presents,’ she says. ‘Something has happened to them.’ She tries to ring first Jo’s mobile phone and then Neil’s, but both are switched off.
Sabina and Hilary want to contact the police, but the others persuade them that it’s too soon, and would be, at this stage, an overreaction. By two o’clock, everybody has come round to their worst-case-scenario way of thinking, and Sabina makes the call.
A detective turns up, asks a lot of questions, says he thinks it unlikely that Jo, Neil and the boys have been removed from Little Orchard against their will. Sabina accuses him of not having listened properly. She tells him to go back to the police station and recharge his solitary brain cell. He nods and stands up to leave, as if he thinks this is a sensible suggestion, and says he will call round again the following day to see if Jo and Neil have been in touch. At the front door, he pauses to announce that Christmas – especially Christmas spent with one’s entire family – can be a very stressful time of year; he tells everybody to bear that in mind.
The rest of the day passes in a blur of tension and misery, punctuated by occasional hysterical outbursts from Pam and Hilary, William and Barney’s two grandmothers, and from Sabina, who keeps saying that she will throw herself off a tall building or swallow a bottle of pills if anything has happened to Jo, Neil and the boys – that’s how much she loves them. Luke gets angry and snaps at her to ‘give it a rest with the suicide talk’. Pam remarks, at one point, that Kirsty is lucky. ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ she says. ‘She doesn’t even know they’re missing.’ Does Amber wonder about what Kirsty does or doesn’t know? She doesn’t even know if there’s a name for what’s wrong with Kirsty; Jo has never volunteered the information.
No presents are opened and no turkey is eaten. That night, nobody sleeps well. Pam and Hilary don’t sleep at all.
The following morning, Amber comes downstairs at quarter past seven and finds Jo in the kitchen with William and Barney. The tips of the boys’ noses are red, the lenses of Jo’s glasses misted over. They look as if they have just walked in. Neil’s jacket and mobile phone are on the counter. ‘Wake everyone up,’ Jo orders, before Amber has a chance to ask her anything. ‘Get everyone together in the lounge.’ She doesn’t look at Amber as she says this.
Amber does as she’s told, and soon the whole family plus Sabina is assembled in the lounge, not daring to move, waiting for the announcement that will explain everything. Jo and Neil are heard whispering in the hall, but no one can make out what they’re saying. Luke and Amber
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