As Heidi looked back at her, Marian felt she was watching her collapsing in on herself. It was clear she hadn’t slept in days; the circles under her eyes were like bruises, the ashen hue of her skin made her seem like a ghost. Marian could only begin to imagine the fears chasing around in her head, particularly now they were looking for this paedo lifeguard who’d upped and disappeared as soon as the police had started asking questions. Marian knew she’d be beside herself if she was in Heidi’s shoes. Estelle was still swearing on her own life, her mother’s and the Holy Bible that nothing ‘like that’ had ever happened during the couple of times she and Sophie had been at Perkins’s flat, but even if it hadn’t – and Marian desperately wanted to take Estelle’s word for it – they shouldn’t have been mixing with a man of his age in the first place. So, for that alone, Estelle was grounded at least until Sophie was found. Poor woman, she reflected sadly to herself, as Heidi led her along the hall to the kitchen.
