Too afraid and miserable to argue, Emmy climbed the stairs and went to her room, her mind whirling. If Abi wasn’t here, then where was she? Maria had been so specific; surely, she couldn’t have got it wrong?
She hung her wet cloak and bonnet on a hook on the back of her door and peeled off her clothes, throwing them into a sodden heap on the floor. Her best travelling gown looked as if it could well be ruined, but that was the least of Emmy’s worries right now. All she could think about was where her sister might be.
She found Jasper and Jake sitting in front of a roaring fire in the foyer when she went back downstairs. They had steaming cups of coffee in their hands and Jasper leapt up to draw her towards the fire. ‘Come and get warm. You’re as white as a ghost.’ The touch of his hand on her arm made her shudder and she was glad that Jake was there. She didn’t feel comfortable with Jasper any more.
‘Are you quite sure that Hugo hasn’t seen Abi?’ she questioned when the feeling started to return to her hands and feet.
‘Quite sure. So, what are you going to do now?’
Emmy shrugged, feeling defeated. ‘I suppose I shall have to go home without her.’
‘Hm.’ Jasper thought for a moment. ‘But what if sheishere in Le Havre and she just hasn’t been to see Hugo yet? Wouldn’t it pay to hang around for a while so we can ask about and see if anyone has seen her?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t stay here indefinitely,’ Jake told him. ‘Some of us have work to go back to.’
‘So you go back and Emmy can stay here with me. We can search for her together,’ Jasper suggested.
As much as Emmy hated the thought of having to spend any amount of time with Jasper, she supposed it did make sense.
‘And how does she get home?’ Jake said irritably. ‘The whole point of me coming along was so that she wouldn’t have to travel by herself.’
‘That isn’t a problem.’ Jasper stretched his long legs out towards the fire. ‘If we find Abi they can travel home together and if we don’t, I shall accompany her.’
Jake wasn’t at all happy with the idea but couldn’t come up with a better one so he shrugged. ‘Very well, but only if Emmy feels comfortable with that?’
She nodded, feeling like she didn’t have much choice. ‘But you don’t have to go immediately, do you?’
‘I can stay for three days but then I really should be getting home. So later today let’s start to ask about and see if anyone has seen her.’
Jasper and Emmy nodded in agreement as Emmy tried her best to be optimistic.
Later that afternoon they went out and each of them started to stop people in the streets and enter shops to give them Abi’s description and ask them if they had seen her but by the time it was dark, they’d had no luck at all.
‘It’s as if she’s vanished off the face of the earth,’ Emmy fretted when they made their way wearily back to the hotel again.
‘We’ll find her,’ Jake promised comfortingly.
Jasper glared at him, although he said nothing. Seeing Emmy and Jake together was like a knife in his heart and he couldn’t wait for Jake to sail home so he could have her all to himself.
For three days they scoured the streets with no success and reluctantly Jake went to book himself a passage home.
‘I hate to leave you,’ he told Emmy on the morning of his departure. ‘Why don’t you come back with me today?’
‘I shall be fine and I’d only fret if I left,’ she answered truthfully. ‘But I will come back just as soon as I’m convinced that she didn’t come here.’ And with that Jake had to be content.
Emmy walked with him to the harbour and saw him aboard a cargo ship that was heading for London on the morning tide and as the ship was swallowed up by the falling snow her spirits sank. Despite her reason for being here she had enjoyed their time together and she knew that she was going to miss him. She was all alone with Jasper now but having to put up with him would be a small price to pay if they managed to find Abi, she decided.
For the next two days the search continued but it was fruitless and eventually Emmy admitted, ‘I think perhaps Abi didn’t come here after all. Surely if she had we’d have found her by now? I can’t stay much longer so I think I’ll start to make enquiries about getting a passage home.’
Jasper had been like her shadow ever since Jake had left, only leaving her late each night and now he was horrified at the thought of her going.
‘But wecan’tgive up yet.’ He caught her hand and a shiver ran through her. She’d been grateful for his help but she still didn’t feel at ease with him, even though he had behaved like a perfect gentleman.
Gently withdrawing her hand from his she primly laid it in her lap. They were in the foyer of the hotel and after a long day walking the streets she was tired and despondent and just wanted her bed.
‘This is a big place,’ he rushed on. ‘And we haven’t covered a fraction of it yet.’
Narrowing her eyes, she peered at him. ‘And you say that Hugo was quite adamant that he hadn’t seen her when you asked him if Abi had tried to get in touch with him?’
