ring me and let me know what happens.’
She nodded gratefully, saw him to the door and reached up to kiss his cheek. ‘Thanks for being so understanding, Rupert. See you Monday.’
He kissed her mouth very deliberately, ignoring the stony blue eyes watching the procedure, then went off to the gleaming Range Rover parked a little way down the road.
Cassie closed the door and raced past Nick in the hall. ‘Give me five minutes to change and I’ll be with you.’
‘There’s absolutely no need for you to come,’ he snapped irritably, but Cassie shook her head as she ran upstairs.
‘I’m coming, and that’s that. If you won’t drive me I’ll call a cab.’
Cassie heard Nick swear under his breath, but he was still there when she ran down again in jeans and a sweater, her ringlets tied up with a shoelace. She reached for a long dark overcoat from the assortment on the hall pegs, slung her bag over her shoulder and looked at the waiting man impatiently.
‘Come on, then.’
Nick Seymour’s car, like Rupert’s, was an all-wheel drive, a fairly new Subaru estate. But, unlike the gleaming Range Rover, it was splashed with mud and obviously covered a lot more territory than a few miles along city streets.
Nick drove rapidly, in complete silence, for which Cassie was thankful. With thoughts of Alice alone and frightened uppermost in both minds, and mutual hostility latent beneath the surface all the time, polite conversation was impossible.
When they parked in a road lined with large, private homes, Cassie’s spirits rose as she saw a light in one of the ground-floor rooms in Max’s house.
Nick rang the bell, and kept his finger on it, but there was no response.
‘There must be someone there,’ said Cassie urgently. ‘The light’s on.’
‘Automatic for security, like the outside lights,’ said Nick briefly. He shivered in the icy wind as he bent to peer through the brass letterbox. ‘Alice!’ he called. ‘It’s Uncle Nick. Are you there, darling?’ He turned to Cassie. ‘You call. Perhaps a woman’s voice will be more reassuring.’
Cassie bent at once, holding the flap open to shout through it. ‘Alice, it’s Cassie. Don’t be frightened.’ After calling a few times more, she straightened and turned to Nick. ‘No use. Haven’t you got a key?’
‘Of course I haven’t,’ he snapped.
‘It was just a thought.’ Cassie hugged her arms across her chest. ‘So what now?’
‘I’m going to the police. Shall I take you home first?’
‘Not on your life!’ she flashed at him. ‘I’m coming with you—’ She halted suddenly. ‘I’ve just thought of something.’
‘What?’
‘Julia.’
‘What about her?’
‘She might still have a key.’
Nick rubbed a hand over his jaw. ‘She was the first one I thought of when I couldn’t track Alice down. That’s why I came round to your place.’
‘I knew you didn’t come to see me!’
‘Look,’ he said angrily, ‘I may not be your favourite person, Cassandra Lovell, but believe me, I’m genuinely worried about Alice.’
‘I do believe you,’ she assured him. ‘And I’m just as worried as you are. But if you’re thinking that Julia’s got her, you’re wrong. Max doesn’t allow her to see Alice, remember.’
‘I’m hardly likely to forget!’ he retorted, and turned up the collar of his raincoat. ‘In the meantime we’re freezing out here. Let’s get in the car.’
‘We’d better drive over to Julia’s, just in case,’ said Cassie reluctantly, as Nick started the car.
‘In case she has a key, or in case she has Alice?’
‘A key!’ she said indignantly. ‘It’s best to make sure Alice isn’t right here at home before dashing off to the police.’
Julia Lovell Seymour lived in the ground-floor flat of a small terraced house in Acton.
‘We should have rung first,’ said Cassie tersely as she pressed the buzzer.
‘She would never have let me through the door,’ said Nick grimly.
‘Do you blame her?’ said Cassie scornfully, then listened as her sister’s voice answered warily. ‘It’s only me, Julia.’
‘Cassie? I thought you had a heavy date tonight.’
‘It fell through. Let me in, please.’
Cassie went into the house ahead of Nick, who stopped dead in his tracks as Julia came towards them like an avenging fury.
‘What in the world are you doing here, Dominic Seymour?’ Julia demanded in a fierce undertone. ‘Be quiet,’ she added, ‘or you’ll wake her.’ She beckoned them into a small kitchen and closed the door behind them, turning on her sister angrily. ‘Now then, Cassie, what are you playing at?’
‘She’s asleep?’ said Nick eagerly.
Julia gave him a hostile look. She wore an unflattering navy dressing gown, and under the harsh striplight her violet eyes were deeply shadowed, her face tired and pale under gleaming hair the exact shade of the gilt streaks in Cassie’s.
‘Why did you tell him, Cassie?’ she said accusingly.
‘Tell me what?’ demanded Nick.
‘I didn’t tell him anything, Julia,’ said Cassie quickly. ‘We’ve come about Alice.’
‘Alice?’ Julia’s eyes widened in alarm. ‘What’s the matter? Is something wrong?’
‘She’s not here, then,’ said Nick in despair, suddenly haggard as the colour drained from his face, leaving it sallow beneath the tan.
‘Of course she isn’t!’ said Julia hotly. ‘Your brother won’t let me near her—but never mind that, what’s happened?’
Her pallor increased as she listened to Cassie’s terse explanation.
‘You mean Max is stuck in some jungle somewhere instead of taking care of his daughter?’ She gave a short, mirthless laugh. ‘And I’m the one who’s deemed not fit to look after her!’ Her face crumpled suddenly, and she clutched at Cassie. ‘Surely there’s been some mistake?’
‘We came to see if you still had a key to the house,’ said Nick with constraint.
Julia rounded on him, eyes flashing through sudden tears. ‘To see if I’d stolen Alice, you mean!’
He shook
