Chapter Twenty-Seven
THE GENERAL SORT OF AMBIVALENCE
Emma: With talking to Scott, I had almost forgotten that I still had the licence, key and account details in my bag. I was nearly back at the hotel when I remembered why I’d left in the first place.
I then had an idea about a place where nobody except perhaps Lander would ever think of looking. I made a detour to hide the bag – and then went back to the hotel.
I’d barely walked through the doors at the front when it was clear that something was badly wrong. Julius was standing at the reception desk, surrounded by three or four staff members. The manager who’d told me about Dad and moved Mum and me to the cottages was there. He was speaking into a walkie-talkie and there was this manic energy, like when the doors open at a concert and people are excited about what’s about to happen.
I’d never seen Julius like he was that afternoon. There are lots of times around family gatherings and the like where I’ve wondered if he’s stoned. It probably comes from the fact that Mum and Dad give him such an easy ride, but he has this general sort of ambivalence to him. As if life is supremely easy.
He was the opposite that day. He was flapping his arms and then putting his hands on his hips, before turning in a circle. He didn’t know what to do with himself.
Julius: For the record, I’ve never been stoned at family gatherings. Another lie.
…
I’ve never been stoned full stop.
Emma: I went across to the reception desk, where Julius was and asked him what was going on. He was so distressed that he could barely get the words out.
It was the manager who told me that Amy and Chloe were missing.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
THE FOREIGN LOT
Julius: I want this on the record: Amy and Chloe weren’t missing. That makes it sound much worse than it was. Did Emma tell you that? She’s so overdramatic.
Emma: Julius was telling the manager that the twins had been by the pool. He’d gone back to his room for a reason he wasn’t clear about – and then, when he returned, they were no longer there.
Julius: I had gone to the toilet. Is that a crime?
Emma: Julius said he’d walked around the pool and then double-checked the room – but that he couldn’t see them anywhere. He was definitely worried at this point, although that’s no surprise.
He was talking so quickly that it was difficult to understand parts of what he was saying.
The manager called across a few more staff members and then Julius showed them photos of the girls from his phone. The manager sent them off around the hotel to search for the girls.
In the meantime, I dashed over to the cottages. There was no sign of Mum, or the girls, so I raced back to the lobby. By that time, the manager’s face was grim. He was talking into the walkie-talkie but turning his back to Julius. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant. As soon as I said the girls weren’t at the cottages, the manager said he’d call the police…
Julius told him not to.
Julius: It wasn’t like that. I knew they’d be nearby and didn’t want to bother anyone. Not only that, the hotel staff knew that place better than anyone. They were doing the searching and I trusted them.
Emma: I think Julius was determined to believe that it wasn’t happening. If the police came along, it would be real. Without them, he could tell himself they were hiding at the kiddie pool, or something like that.
Not only that, if the police had come, then Julius would have had to tell Mum. You can hardly continue to be the golden child if you’ve lost your twin daughters, can you? He was more scared of what our parents’ thought of him than anything else.
Julius: That’s ridiculous.
Emma: I went off to do another check of the pool area. I figured I’d recognise the girls better than any of the staff members who were searching.
It was busy that day, mainly because it was so warm. Nobody wanted to do anything other than lie around the pool. The kids’ pool seemed full and nobody was doing much swimming because there was no room to move.
I don’t understand how anyone enjoys themselves on days like that. It’s so hot and there are so many people. People are always arguing over who has the best sunbeds and how far any of them can be tilted or twisted.
I must have done two laps of the area and didn’t see any sign of the girls. Julius hadn’t seemed sure what either of them was wearing, which didn’t help, but the thought did occur to me that they could be right in front of me and I might struggle to see them. It was hard to walk around because of the sheer number of errant sunbed legs, chairs and the like.
It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I was beginning to get worried at that point – and I stopped next to Liz. She’d again found a way of moving around the pool to keep herself in non-stop sunshine. Given how busy it was, it was quite the skill.
There was no sign of Daniel, but I crouched and asked if she’d seen the twins. I remember Liz lowering her sunglasses so that she could peer over the top towards me. It was proper headmistress stuff – but with the skimpiest of bikinis and a piña colada on the side.
She nodded toward the slides and said they’d been there earlier. In fairness, when I told her the girls were missing, she did immediately jump up and offer to start looking for them. There was this ruthless efficiency about her: shoes on, glasses off, strict march to the lobby. It felt like she might actually get something done.
Liz: Can’t trust that foreign lot, can you? You’re lucky to get a proper toilet in most of these places.
Emma: I followed Liz through to the lobby, where it was clear the girls still hadn’t been found. Julius was following one of the staff members through a door that read ‘Staff only’ and the manager told me that everyone who works at the hotel was now involved.
Liz was trying to take over, which is when I realised everything I thought about her was true. She kept saying things like ‘You people’ and ‘You lot’, which isn’t the most helpful thing in that situation.
Liz: Someone needed to take charge.
Emma: While Liz was busy shouting at the manager, I thought of how Julius had told Mum that everything he did was for the girls. I can’t explain why it stuck with me, other than it felt wrong. If you see someone trying to do a task left-handed when they’re usually right-handed, you can tell something is off… and that’s what it was like.
Julius: I don’t even remember telling Mum that – but, if I did, then I meant it. Everything I do is for the girls.
Emma: I think I’d been caught up in the moment. It was easy to be in that mad sort of panic when you weren’t sure what was what. When Liz started shouting, I was able to take a step back.
If I was an eight-year-old girl and I’d been stuck in this hotel for four days, with only brief excursions to the beach – plus I’d been crammed in with all these people on a day this hot – I’d want to get away, too.