Page 101 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Her face must have told the vet everything she needed to know. ‘You go do what you have to. Maggie and I’ve got this.’

Heaving a sigh of relief, Bree threw her car into gear, pushed her foot flat to the floor and headed for town.

CHAPTER

41

Before he tried anywhere else, Matt started running towards the one place in Wagtail Ridge Sally might have taken Vicki on this particular day. Not far from the school was the white wooden church with its small graveyard sheltered by trees. Sally had wanted Kim brought back to Newcastle for her funeral, but Kim had made it clear she wanted to rest here, in the place she had made her home, close to her husband and her daughter. As he ran, Matt clung to the tiny hope that he would find Vicki safe by her mother’s grave.

The graveyard was deserted. Just to make certain, he darted inside the white fence and to the carved headstone that bore Kim’s name. As he reached out to stroke the cold stone, tears pricked at the back of his eyes.

‘I’m sorry, Kim. So, so sorry. I failed in my promise to you. I haven’t kept our little girl safe. But I swear, if—’ he choked back the word, ‘—when she’s back with me, I will never let anything or anyone threaten her again. Not even Sally.’

He left the graveyard, breaking into a run as he approached the playground that even now he could see was empty. There were several cars parked outside the knitting shop when Matt dashed through the door, looking around, desperate to see Vicki innocently playing with her knitting, despite knowing in his heart that she wasn’t there. Just as she hadn’t been at the playground. Or at the house.

Rose looked up in surprise. She detached herself from the customer she was serving and came up to him, her brow furrowing with concern.

‘Matt. What’s wrong?’

‘Have you seen Vicki this afternoon?’

‘No, should I have? I wasn’t expecting her.’

‘She’s gone. I think—’

Rose put her hand on his arm and guided him away from the customers, who were starting to look their way. ‘Tell me everything.’

‘I had plans with Vicki this afternoon. I was taking her for her first horse-riding lesson. It was a surprise. When I went to the school to pick her up, she wasn’t there.’

‘And you’ve checked everywhere?’

‘I have. Sally has her. Kelly’s kids saw her at the school. And besides …’ He was almost choking on his terrible fear.

‘What?’

Something deep inside him broke and his anger and energy suddenly melted away. His shoulders sagged and he felt defeated. ‘Today is Kim’s birthday.’

For more than two years, every time he had spoken Kim’s name, a shaft of pain had cut him in two. The pain was there again, but it was different this time. The grief had been replaced by fear—fear for the daughter he and Kim loved more than anything in the world.

Rose put a hand on his arm. ‘Sally would never hurt her.’

He would have said the same once, but he was no longer sure. ‘Not deliberately. But I think she’s so lost in her grief that she’s unstable. I don’t know what she’s going to do. Especially today.’

‘Have you tried ringing her?’

Before he could answer, the shop door opened. Hope flared and Matt looked up. But it wasn’t Vicki—it was Bree. She joined them, but didn’t ask if there was any news. Matt guessed that his face told her everything she needed to know. He wanted to put his arms around her and bury himself in her to try to ease the crippling fear. He didn’t. Instead, he grabbed her hand, clinging to it to ground himself in the horror that surrounded him.

‘Have you tried ringing Sally?’ Bree asked.

‘No.’ Matt ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Margaret told me to have no contact with her at all. She wants to file a temporary restraining order against her.’

‘It’s too late for that. You should call her now. Tell her to bring Vicki back. Or try to find out where she is. It’s that or call the police.’

‘I don’t want to bring the police in.’ Matt was sure of that. ‘It’ll only make things worse.’

‘You may not have a choice. But try ringing her first.’

The conversation was interrupted by restless movements from the customers still milling around in the shop.

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