The silence inside is deafening.
Why the hell didn’t I mention our conversation to Elijah? If I had… maybe…
No point in thinkingwhat-ifs. It’s now a case of tracking her down and we will. Heaven only knows what she’s got herself involved in. Has she actually worked out who her biological father is?
I move to her desk and look through her drawers.
Like her father, Lottie is organised, and her drawers are neat and tidy. Everything has a place. I pick up a stack of papers and flick through them. Homework, some sketches.
I stand in the centre of the room and look around.
Shit, come on, Lottie, give me a clue.
I move to her bed and drop to the floor, checking underneath it. Again, nothing.
What teenage girl doesn’t stuff her dirty clothes under her bed? Lottie Frazer, you need corrupting.
I can hear her chuckling at my comments.
I shuffle across the floor on my knees, moving to her bedside drawer.
A couple of steamy romance novels whose titles I recognise. A few photographs of her and her friends, a notebook. I flick through the pages, but again, nothing. A few story ideas, but no big reveal.
I stand, placing my hands on my hips.
If I was a teenage girl, where would I hide my secrets?
I come up blank. Mine were always locked in private files on my computer.
I look back at the desk. Lottie’s laptop is missing. I presume she has it with her.
Damn!
I move to her ensuite.
Nothing, not even her bin has anything in it. Chrissy must have emptied it.
Damn.
Elijah appears behind me.
“What are you doing?”
I turn and look at him. His face echoing the strain I know he’s feeling. He looks like he’s aged ten years. The stress lines around his eyes and mouth are deep.
“I’m looking for clues. If Lottie has found out who her biological father is, I was hoping she may have left evidence. Instead, I find my goddaughter is a neat freak.”
“She isn’t normally,” Elijah says.
“Then why is her room so tidy?”
“Probably because she hasn’t been back long enough to turn it into its usual tip.”
I move to her desk drawers and open them, showing him the neat and organised space.
He frowns.
“All her draws are like this. Is there a space where she might not have cleared up after herself?”
