The Cold Cold Sea by Linda Huber

Amanda came by most days to report the lack of progress in the search for Olivia. She didn’t know if this was what would routinely have happened or if they were doing it because they felt sorry for her. Poor Maggie, her daughter drowned and her husband and son gone.
    Occasionally they did have something to report. There had been several ‘sightings’ of Olivia, all of them negative. The police had been round all the hotels, petrol stations, shops, hospitals and restaurants in the area, but Livvy hadn’t been seen in any of them. She had vanished off the face of the earth. The news reports all said ‘missing, believed drowned’. But there was still no proof, and dear God, as Livvy’s mother, she just needed proof.
    He was waiting by the door, a green plastic bag in one hand, and she hurried across the lane. There had been a lot of green plastic bags; the coastguards had found nearly everything Maggie had left on the beach that day. Except, of course, the one thing that was irreplaceable.
    ‘Nothing,’ said Howard, following her inside. It was a kind of code they’d developed. ‘Nothing’ meant ‘we haven’t found a body’. Wilting, Maggie waved him to the sofa and sank into the single armchair opposite, staring at him. He looked different today, his face was set in resignation.
    ‘Maggie. We found this. It’s a size ten.’
    He opened the green bag and produced a blue plastic sandal. It was exactly like the ones Livvy had, except this one was faded and scarred. Maggie bit her lip, surprised that she wasn’t falling to pieces here. But then maybe there was a limit to the number of times you could do that.
    ‘Can I hold it?’
    He handed it over. ‘It was found yesterday at Warders Bay.’
    Maggie held it in both hands. This one was harder, stiffer than she remembered Livvy’s being, but then maybe that was the salt water. And of course there was nothing, just absolutely nothing to say if this particular sandal had ever belonged to Olivia.
    ‘It’s the same as hers, but...’
    Howard returned the sandal to the bag. ‘I know. Okay.’
    He looked at the floor, and suddenly she knew what was coming. The helicopter had stopped searching days ago, of course, but the coastguards still went out. As did the searchers along the clifftops and in the towns. But apart from the contents of the beach bag and now this anonymous blue sandal, nothing had ever been found. She looked at him, feeling the apprehension grow.
    ‘Maggie, I am so, so sorry. You know we’ve gone over the whole area thoroughly, so many times. There’s no sign that Olivia came back up here. We’re going to call off the active search. We’ll keep the file open, we’ll investigate anything that comes in that might even possibly be a lead, but you know yourself that the most likely thing by far is that Livvy went into the sea. And was lost. But if that did happen, she’s at peace now, Maggie.’
    She stared at him. In a way she’d been expecting this, it was the logical next step, but it was still brutal. He was telling her that they were so sure Livvy was dead that nobody would be out there looking for her.
    ‘We’ve drawn a blank everywhere,’ he said, his voice heavy. ‘The team has shown her photo for miles around, but no-one has seen her. There are hundreds of posters up all over the place and we’ve had dozens of calls, but, just nothing. And every single person on the sex offenders register that could have been anywhere near here has been checked. I’m sorry, Maggie. I really am.’
    For a moment Maggie stopped breathing. She couldn’t say anything, she couldn’t even cry. There was nothing more that anyone could possibly have done to find Olivia.
    She nodded at Howard, and he stood up.
    ‘Amanda or I will come by again tonight. Maggie - you shouldn’t be alone now.’
    ‘My mother’s coming again tomorrow.’
    The relief on his face was obvious.
    ‘Good. That’s great. Maybe you should go home with her for a