‘I don’t know her exact address. Why?’
‘I’m going to set out to find her family, see if they’ve heard from her.’
‘You can’t do that.’ Sarah stopped. ‘If Richard gets to hear about it, he might become suspicious.’
‘But if I do find her, then we can figure out why she abandoned Daisy and I think?—’
‘No.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘It’s too dangerous. What happens if you contact someone, they find out she’s missing and then come here? Richard will go berserk. He’d probably keep me on a tighter leash.’
‘Do you have any other suggestions? We have to get you away from him so that you and Daisy can live without fear.’
‘I’m worried about what will happen if he finds out.’
‘It’s a chance we have to take.’
‘No!’ Sarah cried again. ‘Maybe we’d be better leaving things as they are.’
‘And you live like this, with a child stuck in her room?’
‘She’s not in there all the time. Mostly she has the run of the house. And the garden was okay until you came.’
‘What he’s doing to you both is wrong.’ Juliette wondered why she was putting the blame on them. ‘What he might have done to Louisa is wrong too. So for now, I need to find out where she is.’
‘You can’t, please!’
Juliette paused. ‘You really don’t want me looking into this now?’
‘Not yet. I need more time.’
‘Okay.’ Juliette was lying. She would search for Louisa, but she wouldn’t say anything to Sarah until she had concrete evidence.
‘I shouldn’t have brought you into this.’ Sarah’s shoulders drooped.
‘You needed my help and I’m happy to provide it. Hey, I’d walk right out of here with you and Daisy if you’d come. I hate what he’s doing to you.’ She pulled a mobile phone from her bag. ‘I bought this for you. It has my number on it, credit too. We can keep in touch by text instead of using your main phone. Keep it on silent, read what I send and then delete the messages so if Richard does find it by chance, there will be nothing incriminating on it.’
Sarah paused for a moment, as if she was wondering whether to speak or not. Finally, she did.
‘There’s a box of Louisa’s in the annexe. Richard must have put it there when I moved into the main house, and I found it by chance. I could leave that out for you if I can get it down. It might have something useful in it. I don’t know where anything else of hers went.’
‘You mean her things have gone?’ This was all too creepy for Juliette.
Sarah nodded. ‘A long time ago.’
‘Okay, I’ll leave you for now.’ Juliette touched the woman’s arm. ‘But if you need me, ring atanytime.’
‘I will, thanks.’
Once back in her home, Juliette was glad she’d offered to help Sarah. She seemed petrified of Richard finding out anything. A few minutes later, she received a text message from an unknown number. She opened it to see a message.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to pursue this anymore. Thanks anyway.
Juliette baulked. What had made Sarah change her mind again so quickly? Had Richard scared her? Was he hurting her, or threatening to harm Daisy?
Whatever the reason, she was determined to help even more. Poor Sarah, why should she put up with such abuse? It wasn’t right.
Juliette replied to the message.
Next door, Sarah sat in the kitchen as she read Juliette’s reply.
