The Day She Disappeared by Lisa Hall

Author:Lisa Hall [Lisa Hall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781835261194
Google: U4wa0AEACAAJ
Amazon: 1835261191
Publisher: Joffe Books Ltd
Published: 2023-10-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

I don’t know how long I stand in the sitting room, the photo with the scored-out eyes in my shaking hand. I turn the envelope over, running my eyes over the blocky handwriting on the front, trying to find something familiar about it, something that will tell me who sent it. Is it the same person who left the seagull on the doorstep, the same person who broke into my house in the dead of night? Or is it someone else?

I push the picture inside my notebook, the newspaper article with Violet’s photo on it fluttering to the table. Her smile is wide, and I feel a surge of anger. If something really has happened to Violet, am I really going to let someone on this island push me away? If someone on this island wants me to leave because of Violet — if this has nothing to do with what happened to Marcus — then surely that means that there is a story here? Mind made up, I snatch up my notepad and phone and shove them into a tote bag.

The late afternoon sun is bright and hazy as I approach the camp, my shirt sticking to my back. There is still no sign of the weather breaking and I feel the familiar thump of a headache at my temples. It needs to rain. The whole island feels like a pressure cooker. The camp is busier than the last time I was here, children running in and out of the woods that surround it, their voices filtering out from the trees. I can smell the sweet scent of burning wood, and as I enter the camp I lift my chin, trying to look as if I belong here. I draw a few curious glances as women pause to watch me pass, and I see Lydia on the steps of a caravan, her hair tied up in a scarf. She gives me a shy smile and I nod, not stopping to make conversation in case Martin or Gabe appears, and then I skirt around the edge of the camp, towards Ivy’s van.

Passing the barn on the outskirts of the camp, my feet slow, my heart thumping hard in my chest. I don’t want Gabe to know I am here, although if he can let himself into my house, I don’t see how he can complain about my visiting the site. The barn is still padlocked, a few footprints marking the worn, dusty patch outside the doors, and I wonder again what is so important in there that they have to lock it up, that they had to threaten me. The windows are dark, the glass cracked in places, and when I look up, the roof is patchy and old but the double doors at the front look solid and sturdy. There is the rustle of movement from the other side of the barn, and I hurry on before I can be seen, stumbling over the twisted tree roots that scar the earth.

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