‘It means that François can take Héloise to see her family and collect her again,’ she explained to Briony. ‘He has some friends who run a bar and he goes to see them.’
The empty kitchen sent her panic flaring again. Where was everyone? Where was Nicky?
She went to Marian’s room, expecting to find her hostess resting, but the bed was smooth and untouched. ‘Nicky!’ She whimpered his name beneath her breath, logic giving way to mindless fear as she ran out of the house to the swimming pool, dreading with every second discovering the lifeless body of her child floating in its aquamarine waters.
The pool was empty and still.
Feverish and distraught, she searched the villa and the gardens from top to bottom, calling Nicky’s name until she was hoarse. The others must all have gone out, thinking Nicky was with his mother, where he would have been if she hadn’t been so selfishly wrapped up in her own concerns. Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to allow herself the luxury of letting them fall.
The wicket gate leading down to the beach caught her eye and fresh dread seized her. Those steps so narrow and dangerous were a sure lure for an adventurous two-year-old.
She ran down them, ignoring the sharp grazes inflicted on her tender flesh, searching frantically along the narrow shelving breach where the rocks met the treacherous waters of the sea, sobbing Nicky’s name under her breath. Where was he? Alone and frightened somewhere crying for her, or was he already beyond that? ‘Please God, no!’ The words were wrenched from white lips, her eyes huge with pain and terror, her breath coming in jerky uneven sobs as she stared out to sea.
There was no trace of the little boy.
She ran back to the villa, staring at the phone. Where was Kieron when she needed him? If only someone would appear! She could speak very little French and even if she managed to get in touch with the police how could she make herself properly understand? Where could Nicky have gone? He was such a little boy, barely able to walk for more than ten minutes without complaining that his legs ached. He was so infinitely precious; the most precious thing in her life, and yet through careless neglect she had lost him.
She heard the sound of a car and ran outside, her eyes widening in relief as she saw that it was Kieron’s. He had started to turn the car round in a circle and hadn’t seen her, and frantic with fear that he was going to leave, Briony flung herself despairingly in front of him, shuddering with pain as the bumper caught her slender body, and then through the scream of brakes and her own cry of pain she heard a car door swing open and Kieron’s voice demanding harshly, ‘You little fool, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself?’
She started to tell him about Nicky, but the words were lost, smothered in the thick stifling blanket which fell over her, her lips too numb and swollen for coherent speech.
* * *
Through tormented dreams she pursued Nicky, her breathing harsh and laboured, her body on fire with heat, always calling his name, but the little boy eluded her. Once or twice Kieron appeared in the dream, his expression accusing as he demanded to know what she had done with his son, and although she begged for his forgiveness it was never forthcoming. Sometimes she slipped back into the past when there was no Nicky, only Kieron, and she awoke from one of these dreams to find herself in her bed at the villa, the sky dark velvet studded with diamond-bright stars. Someone was sitting by her side, and she twisted her head painfully, recognition and realisation flooding over her as Kieron’s dark blue eyes met hers.
‘Nicky,’ she moaned painfully, turning away. ‘Where’s Nicky.…?’
‘Safe with Héloise,’ Kieron told her abruptly, ‘and very worried about his mummy. What possessed you to fling yourself in front of my car like that?’
‘I couldn’t find Nicky…’ she shuddered with the memory, ‘and there was no one there. I.…’ Weak tears trickled down her face and she bit her lip fiercely. Her body ached from the cuts and bruises she must have sustained when she fell.
‘He wasn’t lost, you little fool,’ Kieron said roughly. ‘I told Louise to tell you that we were taking him with us to the airport to see the planes.’
‘He was with you? All the time he was with you?’ Briony started to laugh, high hysterical laughter that made it hurt to breathe, tears running unchecked down her face. ‘I didn’t know…I never got your message.’
‘Not for the first time,’ Kieron said enigmatically. ‘Do you know you’ve been in a high fever for three days?’
‘Have I?’ She was curiously uninterested. ‘Can I see Nicky?’ Her voice was urgent. ‘Please, Kieron, don’t torment me! Please let me see him.’