Free Missing by Susan Lewis Page A

told them, ‘so please don’t ask if I think it’s Jacqueline, because I really don’t know.’
    ‘But has it happened before?’ Pete pressed, as Alice dialled 1471.
    ‘Once or twice.’
    ‘Number withheld,’ Alice informed them.
    Pete shivered. ‘Sorry, but that sort of thing gives me the spooks.’
    ‘It was probably a wrong number,’ Alice retorted, with a quick glance at Vivienne.
    ‘You’re going to start spooking me too if you don’t stop this,’ Vivienne snapped, and snatching up the wine she refilled her glass.
    Later, after everyone had gone, and she’d finished clearing up, she stood against the counter top staring down at the phone. She knew it was probably Justine making the calls, trying to catch her unawares, but at the same time she had to face the fact that it could be Jacqueline. Her heart gave a twist of unease to think of her out there somewhere, alone, unhappy and with a purpose only Jacqueline knew anything about.
    However, she wasn’t going to use these calls as an excuse to speak to Miles, even though she longed to hear him again. It would only end up worrying him, and that wasn’t what she wanted at all. She wondered if he’d spent as much time thinking about her these past few days as she had about him. Since they’d spoken she’d hardly been able to get him out of her mind, not that he was ever far from it anyway, but now she couldn’t help being concerned about the effect Jacqueline’s disappearance must be having on him.
    Finally turning out the light, she closed the kitchen door and started up the stairs to bed. To her surprise she found the TV on in the sitting room. She had no recollection of turning it on, and for one unsettling moment she thought someone else might be in the house. Then she remembered Pete and Angus had come up here just after arriving to catch some cricket result.
    After switching it off she went to stand at the window looking out at the night, where only a single lamp post was visible at the open peak of the courtyard, turning the branches of a weeping willow to silver and reflecting like moonlight on the river below. Trying not to think any more about Miles was too hard, so she indulged herself for a while, recalling some of the times they’d spent here, at her house, when they’d been happy and so wrapped up in one another they’d needed no one else. There had been no reason to feel guilty about Jacqueline then, because she’d chosen to go and start a new life. Finally his wife had given Miles his freedom, and considering their past, no one could blame him for taking it.
    Turning from the window she looked around the small sitting room where she and Miles had snuggled together on the squishy sofas, reading poetry to one another or watching TV. The shelves were full of books, many of which were his, and though none of the photographs around the room were of him, in their way they were a constant reminder too. She’d tried so hard to forget, but knew she never could.
    She switched off the lamps and went back out onto the landing, glancing at the closed doors of the small guest bedroom which doubled as a study, and the neighbouring bathroom. It was too late to do any work tonight. She was tired and had probably had too much to drink, so leaving the doors closed, she climbed on up to the top level where the spacious master suite opened onto a small Juliet balcony with a view of the courtyard and river. Two large skylights allowed her, if she left the blinds open, to lie in bed and gaze up at the stars. Tonight she closed them by pushing a button next to the bed.
    After taking a quick shower and shaking her glossy hair out of a clip she wrapped herself in a towel and went to sit in front of the mirror. As she picked up her hairbrush she was still thinking of Miles, remembering the way he used to lie on the bed watching her at night, seeming to love everything about her. He’d never seemed able to get enough of her, which was how she’d felt about