Page 57 of Darling Girls

There was a tremor in Norah’s voice. Jessica stole a look at Alicia and saw that she’d registered it too.

‘Then I’ll track you down,’ Jessica said. ‘Both of you. I’ll climb in your window and we’ll pack a bag and steal away into the night.’

‘Jessica will pack the bags, of course,’ Alicia said.

Jessica forced a smile. ‘Naturally.’

‘You promise?’ Norah looked at her with an unusual amount of emotion. ‘You promise you’ll come for me?’

Jessica extended her pinkie. ‘Pinkie promise.’

There’d never been a promise that Jessica was more determined to keep.

Jessica barely slept. Judging by the way Norah and Alicia tossed and turned, they didn’t either. The uncertainty of what awaited them made it impossible.

They’d witnessed Miss Fairchild’s wrath when they’d said or done the wrong thing unwittingly – but this time they’ddeliberatelygone against her. Worse, they’d joined forces to do it. She’d probably been awake all night dreaming up new ways to make them suffer.

When the sun rose, they dressed in silence and waited until the last possible moment before they removed the wardrobe from in front of the door. Then they marched down the stairs in gloomy silence, like soldiers going to war.

Jessica expected to find Miss Fairchild sitting at the breakfast table, straight-backed and furious, but she wasn’t, though the table was already laid.

Norah sat. ‘Shall we eat?’

‘Where is she?’ Alicia asked.

Jessica checked the laundry and the bathroom. Miss Fairchild wasn’t in either. After that, the girls went from room to room, and then out into the garden. But there was no sign of her. It was as if Miss Fairchild had vanished into thin air.

25

JESSICA

It was nearly 9 pm. Norah had spent the majority of the evening at the bar, insisting on getting every round (with the help of Jessica’s credit card, of course). The bartender was not complaining. Jessica imagined it wasn’t every day that someone who looked like Norah showed up at the Port Agatha pub.

Alicia was filling the ‘babies’ in on their upbringing at Wild Meadows – being honest but not brutal in the retelling – and the girls were all leaning forward, elbows on the table, enraptured. Jessica was enraptured too . . . but not by Alicia. She was mesmerised by what was happening at the bar.

Norah wasflirting.

Jessica wasn’t sure she’d seen Norah flirt with anyone before, but it was undeniable. She moved her body differently – shoulders back, hips all slide-y, head cocked. Shegiggled. Jessica practically felt the heat in her cheeks right along with her sister.

Had she ever flirted with Phil? She supposed she must have. But it had been a while. Perhaps she needed to start? She glanced at her phone. She’d had two text messages from Phil today. The first:Did you water the maidenhair fern?(Naturally she had.) The second:Thinking of you today.He’d sent a variation of the second message to Norah and Alicia too (Jessica knew because Norah had asked how to send back a GIF of someone trying to kill themselves.) Sweet, really.

She’d responded to the first message:Yep.As for the second, she still hadn’t responded. What could she say? She really wasn’t good at that sort of thing. At the same time, shouldn’t she try?

Lately, Jessica had been harbouring a secret fear that Phil was going to leave her. He’d have no trouble finding someone else. A younger, sportier woman who enjoyed things like canoeing and stand-up paddleboarding. After a day out with the young, sporty woman, Phil would post photos of them on social media and the sporty woman would comment ‘BEST day’ with three heart emojis. The worst part was that if it happened, Jessica would have no one to blame but herself.

She quickly thumbed in a response to his last message.

Thanks, Phil.

Three heart emojis. She pressed send as Norah returned from the bar and put down drinks no one had asked for. Then, just as Jessica was about to ask her about the barman, the pub door opened and Detective Patel walked in.

The chatter at the table stopped immediately.

Patel’s expression was grave. Her white shirt was rumpled and the sleeves were rolled up. Her severe ponytail was now not so severe. The change in appearance made Jessica anxious.

‘She doesn’t look happy,’ Bianca muttered.

Jessica’s heart rate kicked up a gear.