Chapter 25
They’d now been walking for twenty-five minutes. Even Ben, who’d charged ahead of Sarah and Jade, so full of hope that Chocko would come straight back when she heard his voice, was beginning to get despondent.
‘What if we can’t find her, Mum? What if she’s gone for good?’
‘She won’t be,’ Sarah reassured him.
‘Of course she won’t,’ Jade added, even though she’d been thinking the exact same thing. ‘Remember Cooper? We found him, right?’
Ben nodded uncertainly as Jade forced a bright smile onto her face.
The day had taken on an absolutely surreal quality.
The fact that this was their wedding day and they should have been doing something so entirely different, and she and Sarah should now have been married to their partners, had started to fade from her mind.
Or maybe she just hadn’t allowed herself to think about it.
The whole of her attention was here, focused on this stony clifftop path, her gaze scanning the surroundings and her ears attuned to any tiny cries or whimpers that might have indicated Chocko was close by.
Or a phone call from Finn or one of the others to tell her that Chocko had been found safe and sound.
But there were no phone calls, no whimpers, just the backdrop of birdsong and the smell of coconut gorse and the gentle breeze fanning their faces.
It was perfect sailing weather and out on the sea, dozens of coloured sails zig-zagged across the choppy blue water.
On the undulating coast path there were lots of hikers and dog walkers too, taking advantage of the beautiful day.
They stopped everyone they saw to tell them what had happened and to ask if they’d seen a running dog, trailing a lead.
No one had.
When Jade’s phone did finally ring she almost missed it because the volume wasn’t very high. Fortunately, she felt the buzz of it in her coat pocket and she grabbed it quickly. But it wasn’t Finn. It was Ursula.
‘Dave’s got the drone up now. He’s asked me to let you know that it might be worth holding fire for a bit.
In case we get a sighting in the opposite direction from which you’re walking.
Where are you exactly? I’m just phoning round to check everyone’s location.
Do you think you could send me a What3Words location? ’
‘Of course. I’ll get Sarah to do that now.’
‘Also, Jade, he’s asked me to tell you that someone Chocko knows should be waiting in the place where she went missing. Because if she comes back and they aren’t, she might dash off again.’
‘That makes sense. One of us will come back. Can you tell him thanks? We’re so grateful.’
‘I will. He’s a very nice guy. And I’ve filled him in on the situation.’ Her voice was full of the quiet warmth she always exuded. ‘Don’t worry, Jade. If anyone can find Chocko, Dave can.’
Jade relayed all this to Ben and Sarah. ‘It’s probably best if we all head back to the hotel.
Finn and Callum are on this path somewhere too, and they know Chocko as well as we do.
That way you guys will be there if she does go back to the kennel.
And I can head out again if we get a sighting of her on the drone. ’
‘Sure.’ Sarah nodded her agreement.
To her credit she’d never once objected to tramping along the rocky cliff path, even though Jade knew she’d rather have been doing virtually anything else. Whereas Jade was at least in her comfort zone being out walking in nature, despite the fact that this was no fun seaside hike.
Chocko had now been missing an hour and ten minutes.
It was 1 p.m. Fifteen minutes after the ceremony should have finished.
If things had gone according to plan, right about now, they’d have been outside in the beautiful grounds of the Bluebell Cliff, posing for photos for a wedding album they’d look back at in years to come.
In another fifteen minutes they’d have been sitting down for the wedding breakfast. Jade wondered idly what Mr B would be doing, having found out his wedding party had gone AWOL.
Would he be pacing around his kitchen, spewing out strings of Victorian insults because his planned-to-perfection schedule had gone awry? Would the immaculately prepared amazing food keep for them? Could it all be heated up later?
Oh God, the enormity of the situation suddenly struck Jade and for the first time there was enough room in her head for a spike of grief about what they were missing. Tears pricked the backs of her eyes.
She became aware of Ben’s gaze and she blinked them away. The little lad was distraught enough already and she didn’t want to make him feel worse. She went to his side and put an arm around his shoulder.
‘It’s going to be fine, love.’
‘You don’t know that though, do you?’ Ben said in a quiet little voice that broke her heart. ‘Anything could have happened.’
‘Jade’s right,’ Sarah said, instantly tuning in to what was happening, and putting an arm around his other shoulder. ‘Now we’ve got Dave’s drone up looking too, we’ll soon find her. Let’s head back, eh?’
There were no more phone calls as they turned and began to head back the way they’d come, even though Jade kept checking her phone.
They walked in silence, each lost in their own heads, and Jade thought about all the other people out here on the cliff on this bright summer day.
All of the people who’d turned up to witness a wedding, not to tramp along a cliff path in their finery.
She wondered what Hector and Charlotte were doing.
Bless them. They’d come all this way for a day they would never forget.
They certainly weren’t going to forget this in a hurry.
Would Ray and Dorrie be looking? Dorrie wouldn’t.
Those posh heels she was wearing wouldn’t last five minutes on this path.
And Finn’s family, Bridie and her husband and the rest of the Irish clan. Some of them would be out searching. Her thoughts touched briefly on Declan. She’d been worried that it was Declan’s antics that would mess up their wedding plans. She’d never anticipated this.
Jade knew she was thinking about the wedding guests’ activities so she didn’t have to dwell on worse images.
The possibility that Chocko had already hurtled over a cliff and was lying somewhere, injured.
Crying and alone, or worse, still and unmoving.
No, she couldn’t entertain that thought. Not for a second. Not today.
Then, when they were almost back at the Bluebell Cliff’s gardens which were accessible via a gate on the coast path, Sarah’s phone buzzed and she and Ben both pounced on it eagerly.
But it was just Callum, checking to see if they had news.
‘He and Finn are about a mile further along the cliff path than we got,’ Sarah told them both. ‘They’re waiting for an update from the drone from Ursula. I told them we’re almost back at the hotel.’
Jade nodded. ‘So they haven’t seen her either.’
‘No, but someone might have done. Let’s go and find Dave. We ought to give Zoe an update too,’ she added. ‘What are we going to do about feeding all these people? Do you think we should just say it’s cancelled?’
‘It’s a terrible waste, though, isn’t it? Practically speaking, it’s probably best if we tell people to sit down and eat. Everyone must be starving.’
‘I’m not,’ Ben said vehemently. ‘I’m never eating again if we don’t find Chocko. I want to carry on looking.’
Sarah didn’t contradict him. She met Jade’s eyes. ‘People have got to eat. Let’s organise that. Some of us can still be out searching. We can do shifts.’
‘The first thing we ought to do is go and check on the other dogs,’ Jade said. ‘In case she’s gone back there. Why don’t you and Ben go and do that and I’ll have a word with Zoe. Then we can go and see Dave.’
Privately, she knew Ursula would have given them an update if she had one and she wanted to distract Ben as long as possible.
Poor Zoe was as upset as if it had been her own wedding, Jade discovered when she found her, along with Clara, the manager, trying to reassure a small group of guests gathered in the bar who hadn’t been able to go on the search because of either footwear or age or infirmity.
Charlotte and Bridie were among them, Jade noticed, along with another older woman, who she guessed must be Callum’s mum. There were hardly any men in the group. She guessed it was a matter of what shoes they’d all been wearing, although no one went to a wedding in hiking boots, did they?
Feeling suddenly overwhelmed at the thought of facing all these people and their sympathy, she signalled to Zoe from a distance and to her relief Zoe saw her and understood, and came hurrying across, with Clara in her wake.
‘Oh my goodness, Jade, I can’t imagine how you must be feeling, but you’re not to worry. We’ve got plenty of wiggle room. Everything can still go ahead.’
‘Let’s go into my office,’ Clara said. ‘We can talk privately there.’
Zoe’s young face was strained with worry and even Clara of the beautiful suits – today’s was a pale pink designer affair – didn’t look her usual perfectly composed self.
Clara’s office was as plush as the rest of the hotel.
It was big enough for two modern desks and two office chairs on wheels and some filing cabinets and a cupboard.
It was a mixture of old and new with a beautiful decorative cornice running around its high ceilings and a big bay window that overlooked the lawns.
Jade felt her gaze drawn to the window in the hope she’d see a small brown dog hurtling across it.
But there were no brown dogs, just a scattering of wedding guests, one or two puffing on vapes.
Clara gestured Zoe and Jade to sit down, but remained standing herself. ‘Right then,’ she addressed Jade, with a professional smile. ‘The first thing I want to say is, please don’t worry. This is the Bluebell Cliff Hotel. We’re here to help you make your dreams come true. We can fix anything.’
Her brave words sounded a little hollow, but Jade nodded to make her feel better. She was desperately worried. Not even the Bluebell Cliff Hotel had the power to fix the broken heart of a little boy if his beloved dog wasn’t found soon.