“She’s still not answering?” Nicky questioned as Georgina paced back and forth, wearing her new rug down to nothing.

Shane shook his head and slipped his mobile into his pocket. “I don’t understand what could have happened to her. That Luke bloke said he’d drop her off at home.”

Georgina stopped walking. “Who?”

“Luke,” Shane explained patiently. “He’s a mate of Kian’s.”

Mark came into the room, then, looking worn out. “She’s not answering her door. I don’t think she’s there.”

Nicky looked at him, then turned to Shane. “I thought Mark brought her home.”

Mark blinked. “What? No, I told you that Luke said he’d take her. He dropped me off at my house.”

“Do any of you even know this Luke?” Georgina cried in exasperation.

The lads all looked at one another and it was clear that none of them actually did. They had each figured one of the others knew him, and therefore had accepted his story. It was obvious that they were horribly wrong.

“I’m calling the police,” Georgina announced, picking up her phone.

Nicky put his hand on her arm. “Wait. Let’s just call Kian, get Luke’s number and ring him to see if he knows where she is. She could be at his, you know. He could be harmless.”

Kian answered his mobile on the third ring, sounding out of breath. “What’s up? I was just getting ready to leave so I could get back to London before the afternoon.”

Nicky took a moment before answering. “Erm, Kian, you know your mate, Luke?”

“I don’t know anyone named Luke,” Kian answered, confused.

Nicky looked up at the others gathered in his living room and shook his head; Georgina put a hand over her mouth and Shane and Mark’s faces drained of all color.

“Why?” Kian asked, sitting at his parents’ table.

“We had a bit of a party last night. He was here. He said you were mates. He took Mark and Hilary home, but Hilary isn’t answering her mobile, or her door. We’re getting really worried.”

Kian inhaled sharply. “Hilary? What do you think…is he…Where is she?”

“I don’t know, Ki,” Nicky replied quietly, hearing the horror in his friend’s voice and knowing then that he wasn’t completely over Hilary, no matter what Kian said to the contrary.

“Did you try her mobile?” Kian demanded, now feeling hysterical as he raced from the house to his car, barely waving at his parents as he jumped in and started the engine. “I’ll ring you later!” He called to his parents, who stood in the yard, watching him back quickly out of the driveway and disappear down the road.

Nicky sighed heavily. “I’ve already told you, we’ve tried everything we know of to reach her, and she’s not answering.”

Kian’s heart began pounding painfully against his ribcage and he barely registered where he was going, only hoped he’d end up at the airport. “Look, I’ll get the first plane out. Keep trying her and let me know if you find her.”

The phone call over, Nicky turned to his stricken friends and wife and dropped down onto the sofa, closing his eyes while Shane attempted to ring Hilary’s mobile again.

“You don’t think he’s going to hurt her?” Georgina asked, leaning her head against Nicky’s shoulder.

Nicky slipped his arm around her, pulling her close. “I don’t know what he’s---”

The phone in Shane’s hands interrupted his sentence, and everyone turned expectantly as Shane pressed the answer button.

“Hilary?”

“Shane?”

There was a scuffle as Shane called to her several times, to be met with silence. Then Luke came on the line. “We need Kian’s mobile number, if you don’t mind. She’s not cooperating. Saying she doesn’t know the number.”

Shane’s stomach twisted itself into knots, and he felt as if he’d be violently ill at any moment. “What have you done with her you bastard.”

Luke laughed. “Now, now. I’ve not done a thing. Just give us the number.”

“He had to change it,” Shane heard himself saying. “A couple days ago.”

He recited the number to Luke and was about to yell several obscenities at him, but the line had gone dead.

“Christ,” Mark said when Shane shut the phone off, after seeing that the number was blocked and there was no way for him to call it back. “What’s he playing at?”

Shane shook his head mutely and they all sat in silence, waiting to get word from Kian. It seemed he was the only one who could get Hilary out of this mess. Whatever this mess happened to be.