that she was having an early night. The alarm was still shrieking. And the door was still closed.
The girl was some sleeper.
Or was she? Unbidden, an image came to Hayleyâs mind of a young girl in the dark room just on the other side of the door; a young, frightened girl sitting up in bed with her feet pulled up, her arms wrapped around her legs as she stared at the closed door and shivered.
This was a warm house but it was a big one and Hayley imagined it would be very easy for a young child to feel lost and alone here. Especially a motherless child, who must be aware of some of the danger her father said she faced. And especially with that alarm sounding and with her fatherâs attention obviously centred elsewhere.
Hayley pressed the nearby switch so that the hallway filled with light. She did not want to startle the girl if, by some chance, she should happen to be asleep. Then she took a deep breath and pushed open the door next to her.
It swung open to reveal a room that, as she had suspected, was pretty much a copy of her own room, directly above. It took her eyes a moment to become used to the dark. Then she realised there was no little girl sitting up, huddled in bed. There was no child still asleep. There was no child, raised from bed and shivering, frightened in the corner.
There was nobody in there at all.
***
Hayley turned and ran.
What could this mean? Was everything Ethan had told her about a daughter a lie? She realised now that despite her strong instincts to trust Ethan and to distrust Tomasi, all she had to go on were the two menâs opposing statements.
But no⦠She knew there was something wrong with Alvaro Tomasi. She had known that before she caught him lying the first time, before he changed his story. Invented the second lie.
She remembered how Ethan had looked when he was talking about Katy. His emotions had been too raw, too real, too similar to what she remembered from her own fatherâs emotions when the two of them had been alone together. He could not be lying.
So, where was Katy? Could she have been sleeping elsewhere? Had Ethan somehow managed to raise her and taken her with him as he ran downstairs?
With or without her, where had he gone? Fortunately, the house was built around long halls, as Hayley sprinted and threw doors open, looking through them to see if Ethan was in the room beyond. Each room she passed that was empty could only mean that he had gone further in the direction she was already moving.
She passed the sitting room where they had spoken earlier, and the dining room, and the kitchen. As she ran, she tried to remember more about the state of Katyâs room.
Had there been some sort of struggle in there? Had Tomasi or one of his men managed to get in after all? Hayley didnât think so. There was nothing she could remember that had looked out of place or in disarray. In fact, as she far as she could tell, the bed hadnât looked as if it had been slept in at all.
Ethan had lied to her about Katy being in there for an early night. Did that make a lie out of everything he had told her about his daughter? Did Katy even exist?
That alarm certainly existed. As Hayley made her way closer to the heart of the household, it seemed to grow even louder.
âEthan!â she cried out, her sense of mystification and distress growing as she reached the last door in the hall and threw it open.
Beyond was a brightly lit office with a bank of television screens along one wall and a large timber desk at which Ethan sat before two giant computer screens. His fingers were raised to a keyboard before him and he continued typing as he turned and raised his eyes to her face.
In her panic, the movement looked painfully slow. Despite the ear-piercing shrillness of the alarm, it was as though he didnât realise anything was wrong.
Hayley felt a fierce clenching in her stomach. If she called him out on lying about having a daughter, then what danger
The girl was some sleeper.
Or was she? Unbidden, an image came to Hayleyâs mind of a young girl in the dark room just on the other side of the door; a young, frightened girl sitting up in bed with her feet pulled up, her arms wrapped around her legs as she stared at the closed door and shivered.
This was a warm house but it was a big one and Hayley imagined it would be very easy for a young child to feel lost and alone here. Especially a motherless child, who must be aware of some of the danger her father said she faced. And especially with that alarm sounding and with her fatherâs attention obviously centred elsewhere.
Hayley pressed the nearby switch so that the hallway filled with light. She did not want to startle the girl if, by some chance, she should happen to be asleep. Then she took a deep breath and pushed open the door next to her.
It swung open to reveal a room that, as she had suspected, was pretty much a copy of her own room, directly above. It took her eyes a moment to become used to the dark. Then she realised there was no little girl sitting up, huddled in bed. There was no child still asleep. There was no child, raised from bed and shivering, frightened in the corner.
There was nobody in there at all.
***
Hayley turned and ran.
What could this mean? Was everything Ethan had told her about a daughter a lie? She realised now that despite her strong instincts to trust Ethan and to distrust Tomasi, all she had to go on were the two menâs opposing statements.
But no⦠She knew there was something wrong with Alvaro Tomasi. She had known that before she caught him lying the first time, before he changed his story. Invented the second lie.
She remembered how Ethan had looked when he was talking about Katy. His emotions had been too raw, too real, too similar to what she remembered from her own fatherâs emotions when the two of them had been alone together. He could not be lying.
So, where was Katy? Could she have been sleeping elsewhere? Had Ethan somehow managed to raise her and taken her with him as he ran downstairs?
With or without her, where had he gone? Fortunately, the house was built around long halls, as Hayley sprinted and threw doors open, looking through them to see if Ethan was in the room beyond. Each room she passed that was empty could only mean that he had gone further in the direction she was already moving.
She passed the sitting room where they had spoken earlier, and the dining room, and the kitchen. As she ran, she tried to remember more about the state of Katyâs room.
Had there been some sort of struggle in there? Had Tomasi or one of his men managed to get in after all? Hayley didnât think so. There was nothing she could remember that had looked out of place or in disarray. In fact, as she far as she could tell, the bed hadnât looked as if it had been slept in at all.
Ethan had lied to her about Katy being in there for an early night. Did that make a lie out of everything he had told her about his daughter? Did Katy even exist?
That alarm certainly existed. As Hayley made her way closer to the heart of the household, it seemed to grow even louder.
âEthan!â she cried out, her sense of mystification and distress growing as she reached the last door in the hall and threw it open.
Beyond was a brightly lit office with a bank of television screens along one wall and a large timber desk at which Ethan sat before two giant computer screens. His fingers were raised to a keyboard before him and he continued typing as he turned and raised his eyes to her face.
In her panic, the movement looked painfully slow. Despite the ear-piercing shrillness of the alarm, it was as though he didnât realise anything was wrong.
Hayley felt a fierce clenching in her stomach. If she called him out on lying about having a daughter, then what danger
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