Page 115 of The Altar Girls

The night was dark and he figured the bulging clouds were ready to unload either snow or sleet. He pulled the collar of his coat up around his ears and began to walk towards his hotel. Maybe a drink there would help him sleep.

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It was even colder down by the shore. The waves crashed up against the dunes, sending a spray of water and sand into the air. Boyd could taste the salt on his lips as he followed the reporter. They crossed a small footbridge and entered the caravan park. All the units were in darkness and the sparse lights around the area spread dim ochre shadows. Where to start?

‘Do we just knock on doors?’ Enda asked.

‘Wait a minute.’ He had to get this right. There was every possibility that Jackie had had help in disappearing. That help could be with Sergio right now. He turned to Enda. ‘You need to go back. There might be someone else involved. You could be in danger, and I’ll be filling out paperwork for the rest of my life.’

‘But you’re not here in an official capacity,’ Enda pointed out. ‘We’re just two concerned citizens looking for a missing kid.’

Boyd knew no one would accept that excuse, but this was too urgent to call it in and have to wait for backup. ‘Okay, but let me do the talking if we meet anyone.’

‘Sure. Where will we start?’

‘What did that management company say?’

Enda had been on the phone as they’d walked down the hill.

‘Told me to call back in the morning. Not very helpful.’

‘I’ll get Duncan to make the call, but first we can snoop around a bit.’

‘Will we split up? Be quicker.’

‘No, we stick together.’ Boyd didn’t want the reporter fecking this up on him. By rights he should have insisted on him waiting in the pub. He could imagine the conversation with Lottie when this was over. Unpleasant. Not that he really cared about that if he found his son. He could not entertain the thought that this was a wild goose chase. Every stone and all that. ‘Let’s start at the rear of the property and work our way forward.’

‘Should have had a hot whiskey to keep out the cold.’

‘If you’re going to complain, go back to the village and wait for me.’

‘Who’s complaining?’

Boyd walked around the dark mobile home, peering through each window in turn, seeing nothing but darkness. He tried to calm his racing heart by inhaling deep breaths of cold sea air. He had to approach this rationally, like a detective, not an anxious dad.

‘There’s no sign of life,’ Enda said redundantly as Boyd depressed the door handle. ‘It’s locked.’

‘I can see that.’

Boyd moved away only partially satisfied. He would go round each and every mobile home and caravan, hoping to find his son.

It took them twenty-five minutes to circle all the mobile homes and knock on the doors. No sign of life anywhere. No sign of Sergio. They stood on the footbridge, gazing back at the site, the thunderous boom of waves behind them.

‘It’s possible the boy was moved on by someone after your ex’s accident,’ Enda said.

‘We don’t even know they were here,’ Boyd said sharply. But he was thinking that this was exactly the type of place Jackie would flee to. Not an Airbnb, where she would be more traceable.

‘You know her better than anyone, I suppose.’

‘Yes, and she would have been careful. If this is where she holed up, she may have been waiting to be taken out of the country. She needed to let the dust settle before she made her move.’

‘Maybe,’ Enda said doubtfully as he took out his cigarettes and went to light one. ‘But how do you keep an eight-year-old locked up in one of these for weeks? It’s cruelty.’

‘They may not have been here all the time, or at all. Anyhow, Jackie would see it as necessary to save her own hide.’

‘Sounds like a right bitch.’

‘In her world she was the number one priority.’ Boyd glanced out over the dunes. ‘She loved Sergio, though. She raised him for eight years alone, that has to count for something.’ His voice cracked as he choked up thinking of his gorgeous, intelligent boy all alone somewhere he couldn’t find.

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