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SEARCH PARTY

"They’ll be down on the heath. That’s their favourite haunt. They’ll be there with a couple of boys."

"Where is the heath, exactly? We tried to find it by going down Waterford Road, but we didn’t find it."

"Yes, it’s down there. Just keep going, right to the end, there’s a little footpath."

The jeep swept down the road, halting at the T of a cul-de-sac. The entrance to the heath was not immediately apparent to the driver.

"Just there, look." The passenger pointed.

"What? There?" The driver flicked the lights of his vehicle on full beam and peered down the unlit footpath, no more than two feet in width and bordered by tall bushy evergreens.

"Yes. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t even like to walk it in daylight, let alone this time of night."

"I’d say not! Surely they wouldn’t have - "

"They’re just kids, aren’t they? Haven’t got a clue. Think nothing will ever happen to them."

They got out the car, two women, one man, and walked to the entrance of the footpath, peering down it.

"We need a flashlight," one woman said.

"Have you got one?"

"Not on me. Have you got one in the car?"

"No."

"Come on, we’d best check if they’re here."

Agreeing not to talk, in case they alerted the fugitives to their presence, they walked cautiously down the footpath, unable to see where they were stepping. At first there was a hard surface - concrete or tarmac - sloping down. It would be as slippery as an ice rink in frosty weather, but there was no frost tonight. There had been a strong breeze, without it being too cold, but here, in the footpath, the walkers were shielded by a shiplap wooden fence and the evergreen trees on both sides. Even so, the noise of the trees moving in the breeze could be heard, about 10 feet up.

The path kept sloping, down, down, then there came a point, about 100 yards along, where it had sunk to such an extent no gleam of any street light could reach it. The walkers could have held their hands out in front of their faces and not seen them. At that point, the concrete of the path yielded to an uneven track. It was rutted. In heavy rain little rivulets would form here, racing over the pebbles and sweeping away the surface soil.

They walked perhaps 20 yards. The woman who wanted the flashlight fell behind, stepping more cautiously, fearful she would fall on the uneven, sloping surface she could not even see. Very soon, not even the presence of the others was apparent to her. They had walked on. Her pace slowed even more in the blackness. Crazy. She could not imagine her daughter would have come down here tonight.

The ground beneath her softened, then flattened. Then through the trees she could make out a little clearing. The path had widened. Perhaps it was illuminated a little by the very bright stars, but there was no moon. The shiplap fencing had gone, but the evergreens still marked the edge of the path. By the rustle of the leaves in the trees, it was apparent not all the trees were evergreens. The wind was more obvious here, in this tiny little clearing, no wider than 12 feet, and though she could not see them, the mother who was the slowest walker fancied some of the leaves were falling.

The other two were talking, evidently deciding the two fugitives were either not there, or were hiding.

"This is where they come. They normally sit right there."

It was too dark to see a bench of any kind, but it didn’t look as if there was one, just a tall grassy bank. From that distance, its growth looked too tall for anyone to sit comfortably there, but no-one walked any closer to check, because it looked as if there were a big step down to get to it, and no-one could see into the bottom of the big step down.

"Louise!" shouted the mother who led them to the heath, "If you’re hiding in there, you’d better get home right now, young lady!"

Her shout was only answered by the loud rustling of the wind in the trees, and the creaking of some branches as they swayed.

"Georgie," Louise’s mother added, for good measure. "Your mum’s here."

She spoke as if that were a threat, but Georgina’s mother had never been an authoritative figure. Instead, she glanced up at the bright stars and thought how nice it would be to have a fuck, right here under the stars. Then the uncomfortable thought went through her mind that she hoped her 12-year-old daughter would not be thinking the same thing. She didn’t think so, but who could say? And why shouldn’t she? If her mum thought it would be nice...

"I don’t think we’ll achieve anything more here," she said. "It’s not as though we’ll be able to see anything, not without a flashlight."

"I suppose you’re right," Georgie’s father said. He led the way back up the dark footpath, where even noise seemed muffled in its depths. Everyone’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, well away from the streetlights, but even back along that footpath it was too dark to see anything, except from about 10 feet up. Then the shapes of the evergreens could be seen as they thinned out in shape towards the night sky. The tops of the trees were not visible, they stretched too high. It was impossible to see the ground, or directly ahead.

They carried on walking, and reached concrete. Soon after that the orange haze from the nearby streetlight began to pick its way along the path.

Back at the car, sharing theories and ideas, they realised someone had called the mobile phone which had been left carelessly on the dashboard. It was Georgie’s home number. Georgie’s father phoned back.

"Where have you been?" He didn’t raise his voice, but after a moment, he repeated, "To get some crisps from the garage. I wonder why you did that, when we only have about two dozen packets of crisps at home? Is Louise with you?"

He twisted in his seat and spoke to Louise’s mother. "Apparently she’s at home now. Shall we drop you off? All right. We’ll see you in a minute, Georgie. ‘Bye."

The breeze was gathering strength as the jeep turned round and headed for home, and raindrops began to patter on the windscreen. Soon there would be a storm.