Page 72 of Jacob

I like this guy.

“How long?”

“You need to give me forty-eight hours. If I don’t have her back to you by then, I’ll give your father back his money.” He pushes his hands through his unruly hair.

Fuck me. That’s some serious confidence right there.

“We’re already further along than the police. I would hope to have her back to you sooner.”

Momentarily basking in his confidence, I believe him.

“We’re done. Keep your phone on, Jacob.”

My head bowed, I utter the words I never thought I would. “Will she be alive?”

“The first seventy-two hours are critical. He’s left a lot of breadcrumbs for us to follow, and you’ve given me lots of information, plus we have the CCTV footage. We know what he looks like and his car registration number. We’ll be able to pinpoint his exact location by tracing his website IP address. It doesn’t matter if he deleted it or his account he posted on her channel from; we’ll find it. I hire the best cyber hackers and engineers from all over the world. We’ve got this.”

That didn’t answer my question.

“Wait for my call. Eat something. It’s going to be a long night, maybe two.” He nods to the car door, giving me my cue to leave.

Not knowing when I’ll speak to him or if I will get my girl back safely, my fingers clamp around the door handle and I push the door open, stepping back out into the street.

Walking to my car, I take a moment to gather myself. I’m desperate to go to the town hall where the search parties are meeting up, but when I slide into the driver’s seat, I tip my head back and let out a long exhale. I need to contain the combined rage and sadness bubbling away in my gut.

I pull out my phone and try calling Owen again.

No reply.

Where the hell areyou, Owen?

25

JACOB

It’s been thirty-six hours since we realized she was missing.

She’s been missing for much longer. With every hour that passes and every beat of my heart, I give up hope. It’s becoming more impossible to stay positive.

I’m desperately trying to feed from Skye’s mom’s never-ending positivity; however, it’s flowing away like the fine grains of sand in an hourglass.

Every inch of me wants to believe we will find her, and yet a second night without her has crept in, with no sign of her and no call from Walter.

Search parties have been out since yesterday lunchtime and all day today, calling her name, scouring the fields and hills all around, as well as the beaches and surrounding villages. Not a street has been missed.

Nobody has found anything. It’s as if she’s vanished into thin air.

I stopped at my house for five minutes to change into warmer clothing and since then I’ve been out searching, relentlessly, alongside everyone, and by myself.

Friends, old and new, high-school pals, work colleagues, family members and their friends all pulled together. If I thought we were a tight community before, then we’re even tighter now.

We agreed to end the search parties at six o’clock in the evening; it’s too dark to keep looking as night falls. Today we mainly focused on the nooks and crannies of Castleview Cove’s cobbled streets. My feet are aching. However, I would walk across a blazing hot desert with no shoes on, just to catch a glimpse of her again.

For the first time today, I’m sitting down, my joints aching, heart broken, and consumed with so much hatred for myself that I couldn’t save her from that creepy-ass fucker.

Having just read astill no signtext update from Kimmy, who’s been patiently waiting at their house since yesterday morning, with a heavy heart I place my phone on the table in front of me. I’m better off staying here at the community hall. I don’t want to go home. It’s pointless; there is no way I will be able to sleep, anyway. My mind is reeling, going through so many different scenarios of what I could have done.

No matter how many times I’ve been over it, I know I am the one to blame for this because without that tablet and pen she would never have learned how to hand letter or started her video channel.

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