Page 100 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“What changed? Why did they run?”
“Arthur had a small turn yesterday, nothing major, just some medication hiccups. The surgery must have contacted social services. They came this evening when the boys were at the theater. They’ve arranged for a respite placement starting tomorrow. It was out of our hands.” She sobbed. “We broke it to them when they got home, but when Arthur went to check on them before bed…they were gone.”
Harriet closed her eyes.
“Tess.” James spoke into the phone. “It’s James Knight, we met at Grace’s house. What time did you realize that they’d gone?”
“Um.” Her voice was very small. “About half an hour ago. We’ve been calling their phones. We went out looking for them. We don’t know what time they left. Billy put Sid to bed at about nine o’clock and then he didn’t come back downstairs. We knew he was upset, we just assumed he wanted some alone time.”
“You stay put,” said Harriet. “You need to be home in case they come back. I’ll find them.”
“Please,” Tess sobbed.
“I’ll find them.” She was already grabbing her coat off the hook and pushing her feet into her boots. “I’ll find them, Tess, I promise.”
Hanging up, Harriet rushed to the bathroom to throw up, then splashed water on her face, grabbed a scarf from the coat stand, and wrapped it around her neck.
“I’ll drive,” said James, pulling his coat on. “You contact the famous five.”
She nodded, grateful that James was here. Her hands trembled so violently she could barely type.
The roads were quiet, the pavements empty. The night sky was eerily pale, with clouds the color of split pea soup, a promise of more snow. But for now, the air was still, as though time had stopped, and Harriet thought that was what this diabolical uncertainty felt like, like the real world had abandoned them and left them sealed in a nightmarish snow globe.
Any hopes she’d had that Billy might have holed up with one of the famous five had been dashed early on. But her phone pinged relentlessly with suggestions of places Billy might go. She’d contacted Mallory and Hesther, and they’d spread the word among the rest of thecommunity groups. The theater security guard confirmed that no one was in the theater. Those with cars drove around the town, checking in frequently with Grace—who had appointed herself search-and-rescue coordinator—so that time wasn’t wasted searching areas already covered.
Harriet was still nauseous. The uncertainty was a dull agony that dragged through her body, a dread so heavy it was an effort to move. But move she did. They’d combed the park, torches swinging in wide arcs, frozen leaves crunching beneath their boots. Every now and again one of their beams would illuminate a pair of gleaming eyes in the darkness: foxes and badgers, fellow prowlers in the freezing night. The air was sharp with cold, making her ears ache and the tips of her fingers tingle.
At the bus station they scanned every booth, shelter, and bench, thinking maybe Billy and Sid had decided to wait it out and catch the first bus out of Little Beck Foss in the morning. But the boys weren’t there, and the rough sleepers they approached hadn’t seen anyone matching their description.
When they reached the train station and found that it too was empty, Harriet sat on a bench with her head in her hands.
“Where are they?” she called out in frustration.
“We’ll find them,” said James.
“Will we?”
It was almost two a.m. Deep night. Frigid cold. That was what killed her, thinking about the two of them shivering together somewhere, frightened and alone. James put his arm around her. The station clock ticked loud on the deserted platform.
“I dropped the ball,” she said. “I knew it. I knew in mygut that something wasn’t right. I should’ve pushed Billy. I knew it when he kept picking Sid up from school. I let it slide. I let all the other things I had on my mind push it to one side.”
“But he told you everything was fine. How were you to know he wasn’t telling the truth?”
“Because that’s my job, James.” She rounded on him. “I’m supposed to know.” She shook her head and looked up at the sky glowing tawny in the hazy light cast by the station lamps. “It’s happening again.”
“No.” James’s voice was firm. “This isn’t Zoe. It wasn’t your fault then, and it isn’t now. We’re going to find them. They’re going to be okay.”
She wondered if the conviction in his voice was to keep her sane or himself.
“Where would they go?” She’d lost count of how many times she’d asked that question over the last two hours; it was going around in a loop inside her head.
James rubbed his chin. “Billy wouldn’t do anything that would put Sid in danger,” he said.
“No.” She sniffed and wiped her nose. It was so cold that it felt like it was running even when it wasn’t. “He wouldn’t.”
“It’s a long shot, but do you think he might have checked them into a hotel overnight?” he asked.
“Maybe. I mean, he’s got a job; he could have money stashed. I don’t know.”
