‘Okay. Thanks for looking.’
‘But I found this on the ground outside.’
She was holding the white silk scarf Amanda had been wearing around her neck. I took it from the friend with increasing concern, and went back into the marquee to Amanda’s table.
‘Does anyone know where Amanda is?’ I asked loudly of those sitting at the table. ‘We have found her scarf.’ I held it up. ‘And where is Darren?’
I’d bloody murder the two of them if they’d gone back to the pub.
‘Darren’s there,’ one of the girls said, pointing.
He was coming back into the Marquee from the garden. I went over to him. ‘Where’s Amanda?’ I demanded.
‘I’ve no idea,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been outside looking for her.’
We went back to her table.
‘Who else is not here?’ I asked.
They all looked to their left and right.
‘No one else missing,’ said the girl who’d been to look for Amanda in the loo. ‘I’ll call her.’ She lifted her phone.
Amanda’s phone wouldn’t ring if she were in the Red Lion, because of the lack of signal. But would she really have gone there on her own when all her friends were here?
However, her phone did ring. We all heard it, and as one, our eyes swivelled towards it lying under a napkin at her place at the table.
For the first time, I was becoming more than slightly worried. Amanda’s mobile phone was like an extension of her left hand. She never normally went anywhere without it, not even to the toilet. Was she ill? Or maybe blind drunk?
By now, everyone else was beginning to sense that something was amiss.
Georgina came up to me. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘We can’t find Amanda,’ I replied.
‘Is she in the toilet?’
‘We’ve tried there, and we found her scarf on the ground outside. Darren says he doesn’t know where she is — that’s if he’s telling us the truth.’
‘What are you implying?’ Georgina asked with concern.
‘Nothing. But I don’t trust that boy. I never believe a single word he says.’
Georgina looked at me. ‘Perhaps she’s gone into the house.’
‘The terrace door is still locked. I have the key with me.’
‘But she has her own front-door key. She could have just walked round and gone in there.’
I thought it unlikely Amanda would have had her front-door key with her at the party, but nevertheless, I took the terrace-door key from my jacket pocket and gave it to Georgina. ‘You go and check the house. If she’s not there, I’ll organise a search of the garden. She’s probably just had a skinful and fallen over somewhere, but she might have hurt herself.’
Or be unconscious from drink, I thought.
Georgina now looked worried, and she hurried off towards the house.
I went over and picked up one of the DJ’s microphones and pushed the “on” button.
‘Turn it up,’ I said to him. ‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ My voice boomed out of the speaker system at maximum volume. ‘Sorry about the delay in getting the speeches underway. We seem to have mislaid our daughter.’ I paused. ‘Amanda, if you can hear this, please come back to the marquee as quickly as you can.’
Everyone fell silent and began staring at the two entrances, one towards the house and the toilet trailer, the other towards the garden, but Amanda did not materialise through either.
Georgina reappeared from the house, shaking her head.
‘Could we please organise a search of the garden?’ I said through the speakers. ‘I am sure she’s fine, but she may have fallen and injured herself or become ill. If you feel able, could you please fan out and look for her?’
James took control of his friends and was barking orders about where each of them should go.
I looked at my watch. It was five to ten. The sun had been down for more than half an hour but there should still be enough light left in the late-evening western sky for people to see. In addition, we had some candle lanterns positioned at various strategic points, such as on either side of the steps down from the terrace and on the route to the loos.
All but a few went out into the garden while I stayed inside.
I used my mobile phone to call the village pub.
‘The Red Lion.’
‘Jack, it’s Chester again. Is Amanda in the pub?’
‘I haven’t seen her since earlier this afternoon. Not since you called before. Is everything okay?’
‘Yeah, fine, I think. But we can’t find her. If she turns up, could you call me on this number?’
‘Will do.’
He disconnected.
Where the hell was she?
People slowly started returning to the marquee from their searches, and there were no jubilant shouts of discovery from anywhere.
Darren wandered in, and I went over to him.
‘Look here, Darren,’ I said, ‘if you know where Amanda is, tell me right now.’
‘I don’t,’ he replied, spreading his palms out wide. ‘We had a bit of a row, and she went off in tears, but that was ages ago.’
‘What did you row about?’
I could tell that he didn’t want to tell me.
‘Come on,’ I insisted. ‘What did you and Amanda row about?’
‘She was paying more attention to the boy on the other side of her than she was to me.’
‘You stupid bastard.’ I said it with feeling.
Georgina came across to stand by me. She was now in tears.
‘I’m going to call the police,’ I said.
Chapter 5
I never did get to make my speech.
At first, when I called them, the police weren’t particularly interested.
‘How old is your daughter,’ asked the person who answered.
‘She’ll be nineteen next Friday,’ I replied.
‘And how long has she been missing?’
‘About an hour.’
How the balance of one’s life could change so rapidly in just a single hour — from happiness and joy to foreboding and terror.
‘Adults are not officially listed as missing until they have not been seen for at least twenty-four hours, sometimes even longer.’
‘But we’re in the middle of her birthday party,’ I said. ‘She is due to be making a speech, but she can’t be found. We have thoroughly searched the house and garden, and she’s not here. All we have found is the scarf she was wearing.’
‘Even so, she’s not really been missing long enough,’ said the policeman. ‘She might have just gone for a quiet walk on her own.’
‘In the dark? From her own birthday party? Without her mobile phone? And what about her scarf we found?’
‘People sometimes do the strangest things,’ he replied drolly.
I felt I was getting nowhere.
‘I believe my daughter must have been abducted. I just hope it has nothing to do with me winning the Derby this afternoon.’
‘In what way could that be relevant?’ the policeman asked.
‘Because my horse is now a very valuable commodity,’ I said slowly, not wanting to believe what I was saying, ‘and that might make my daughter a target for kidnappers.’
‘I’ll get someone there right away,’ he said, changing his tune. ‘Stay where you are, and don’t let anyone else leave the party. They might need to give a statement.’
I disconnected.
I had gone into the house to use the landline and, in spite of what I had said to the policeman, I didn’t really believe that Amanda had been kidnapped. I tried to convince myself that there must be a less dramatic reason, and she would soon turn up, and eventually we’d all be able to laugh about it.
I went upstairs and into every single room to look for her. I searched under the beds, in the wardrobes, and even behind the shower curtain in the bathroom. Nothing.
‘Amanda,’ I shouted loudly from the landing, ‘if you are here, show yourself. This is no longer a joke. I have called the police.’