The Lost Girls: a gripping mystery thriller by Helen Pryke

Author:Helen Pryke [Pryke, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books - crime, thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Charlotte walked down through the garden, picking flowers as she went and adding them to her bouquet. She wanted it to appear as if she were wandering aimlessly, even though her every sense was on high alert. He wasn’t due home from work for a while, but he could come back at any time. He seemed to have a radar that picked up on their moods, inexplicably turning up in the middle of her and Jane screaming at each other, or interrogating her when she was deep in thought, daydreaming about her life before, with her family. Her real family. She grasped onto those memories like a drowning person clinging onto a buoy, desperate not to forget, not to drown in the reality her life had become.

As she neared the end wall, her heart began hammering in her chest. What if they were there? What would she say to them, how could she convince them she needed help? Would they just laugh at her, as if she were crazy? No, she had to keep calm, speak slowly, and make sure they understood.

She pulled some ivy from the crumbling brickwork and added it to the flowers in her hand, fussing around with them so she looked busy, then leaned over on tiptoes as if searching for more foliage. She rested her free hand on the top of the wall and peered over, seeking out their den. It was cleverly camouflaged; wooden boards covered with ivy, grass, and branches rested against the trunk of a tree to create a shelter. If she hadn’t been searching for it, she would never have seen it.

All was quiet, except for a blackbird singing in a tree nearby, the mellow musical notes floating across the breeze to her. She sighed and turned around, holding the bouquet to her chest. There were no children here today.

‘Picking flowers again, Charlie?’

She gave a little scream and dropped the flowers. Trembling, she bent over to pick them up, but he held out his hand.

‘I’ll do it. I didn’t mean to make you jump.’ He collected the flowers and roughly gathered them into a bouquet. ‘Here. I’m sure you can sort them out later.’

‘Th-thank you.’ She hoped he didn’t notice her shaking hands as she took them from him.

‘What are you doing all the way down here?’ His eyes searched her face, boring into her as if he were trying to reach her deepest secrets.

She gulped. ‘I-I wanted to see if I could find other flowers, for the house. You liked the last ones so much,’ she added. She had to keep talking, prevent him from looking over the wall and seeing the children’s den.

‘You seem distracted,’ he said, his jaw clenched. He grabbed her arm, pinching her skin.

‘The blackbird,’ she gasped, resisting the urge to pull away. ‘It was singing so beautifully, I was listening to it…’

‘Well, it’s gone now,’ he said with a smirk, pointing at the black smudge in the sky. ‘Guess I scared it off. Come, let’s go indoors now.

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