But the hill was getting steeper and, after only a few minutes, she was panting heavily. Casey had stopped talking, and her head was resting against Jess’s shoulder. Jess wondered if she was asleep and hoped she was. She’d faced far more today than a girl her age should ever have to face. The problem was that she was going to wake up very soon because Jess couldn’t keep going like this for much longer.

Up ahead, Amanda turned round and, seeing Jess struggling with Casey, she walked back to them. ‘I think the waterfall’s just up here,’ she whispered, seeing that Casey was asleep. ‘Look. Can you hear that stream there?’ She pointed into the thick wall of pine trees.

Jess listened, and now she could definitely hear running water.

‘It’s not that far now,’ continued Amanda. ‘Why don’t you let me carry her for a bit? You look exhausted.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Jess, reluctant to let Casey go. ‘I don’t know anything about you.’

‘I’m not a bad person, I promise.’

‘Then why are those men chasing you?’

Amanda shook her head wearily. ‘I really don’t know.’

‘They must have a reason.’

‘Well, I don’t know what it is. I promise.’

Jess wasn’t sure she liked Amanda, but the more she thought about it, the less she looked like a criminal on the run. She looked too well off, and her clothes were expensive. ‘Be careful with her,’ she said, a hardness in her tone. ‘She’s all I’ve got.’

‘Don’t worry, she’ll be okay. I’m not going anywhere without you.’ Amanda smiled a pretty smile that for some reason really annoyed Jess, but she handed Casey over, feeling a guilty sense of relief.

Taking her gently, Amanda continued climbing the hill, her pace not slowing at all, and Jess had to walk fast just to keep up with her. Jess wondered if she was some kind of political refugee or whistle-blower who held some big secret that could bring down a whole government, and had to be stopped before she blurted it out. But whatever it was she’d done, she wasn’t talking. So, for the moment at least, Jess had no choice but to accept her story.

The waterfall appeared out of the gloom. It was about the height of a big house, and pretty narrow, running down between two rocks before forming a round pool at the bottom that on a hot, sunny day would have been nice to swim in, but right now just made Jess feel cold. A set of steep wooden steps had been dug into the soil, each spaced several feet apart, and they led to the top. It was more of a climb than a walk, and Jess had to help Amanda with Casey as they made their way slowly upwards.

‘If I remember rightly, the path’s up here on the left somewhere,’ said Amanda, breathing more heavily now.

Jess was panting too, although she was pleased that Casey still appeared to be asleep. Amanda started up the path with renewed purpose and Jess felt a real rush of excitement. If they got to this house, they could call the police and this whole thing would be over. She could take Casey back to London with her, and they could be together again properly. It was awful about Jean and Tim, but Casey would get over it, with her help. There’d be practical issues, of course. Jess had no money and was living with temporary foster parents until her eighteenth birthday, but they could sort something out. She knew they could.

‘Here it is,’ announced Amanda, stopping between two pine trees just up ahead.

It didn’t look much like a path to Jess, and there were no lights in the distance that she could see, which tempered her excitement a little. ‘How far is it?’ she asked.

‘I can’t remember exactly, but not too far.’

‘Can you still manage Casey?’

‘For a bit longer, yes.’ She motioned for Jess to follow. ‘Come on.’

They walked in silence until the path became more obvious. Finally, Amanda broke the silence. ‘I’m sorry about your parents,’ she said.

‘They’re not – they weren’t – my parents,’ said Jess quietly, not wanting Casey to hear this conversation. ‘It was our aunt and uncle. Our parents are both dead.’

Amanda frowned. ‘I’m still sorry.’ She sighed. ‘I didn’t mean to get you involved.’

‘I know. It’s okay.’ And then, for some reason she couldn’t quite fathom, she added: ‘I’m adopted.’

‘I guessed that.’ She didn’t add anything but then she didn’t need to. Jess was mixed race, and quite clearly not Casey’s real sister.

‘My parents, the ones I called Mum and Dad, adopted me when I was seven.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘Dad had a heart attack two years ago. A massive one, while he was at work. Apparently, he died pretty much instantly. I don’t think Mum ever really got over it. They doted on each other, you know. It was almost sickly.’ Jess smiled at the memory of the two of them snuggling up together on the sofa, whispering and laughing in each other’s ears, then forced it aside, knowing there was no point languishing in a past that was never coming back. ‘Anyway, she got breast cancer last year. We thought she’d beaten it but it came back everywhere, and she died in June. That’s when Case came up here to live with Tim and Jean.’

‘You’ve had it tough,’ said Amanda, without sounding all syrupy sympathetic like a lot of people did.

You don’t know the half of it, thought Jess. She’d had it tough right from the very beginning. And what she’d seen in those years before she’d been adopted still haunted her nightmares, even to this day. Life, in Jess’s experience, was hard. You either accepted that fact and lived with it, or you ended up wallowing in self-pity, and Jess had never been a one for that.

The house loomed up out of nowhere behind a thick tangled hedge. It was modern-looking, with a long sloping roof like a Swiss chalet, and looked totally out of place in the middle of the woods. A gate led into a small front garden that needed work doing to it and, as Amanda stood aside holding Casey, Jess opened it and walked through. The house was in darkness. It looked empty and unloved, with grubby windows and paint peeling from the walls where the ivy was stretching up in tangled, invading fingers.

‘I didn’t think there was anyone here,’ said Amanda, coming in behind her. ‘But they might have a phone.’

Casey stirred on Amanda’s shoulder and shook herself free of her grip. ‘Where are we?’ she asked, turning to Jess and rubbing her eyes.

‘We’ve found a house,’ said Jess, putting a protective arm round her shoulder. ‘We’re going to let ourselves in so we can get some dry clothes and food.’

‘But isn’t that like burgling?’

Jess smiled. Casey had always had a real sense of right and wrong. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’ll be more like borrowing.’

There were no keys in obvious places, but the windows were old and single-glazed, and they found one round the back that faced directly into the kitchen, and which looked easy to break. Cold, wet and thirsty, Jess didn’t hang around. She found a clay plant pot and, while Amanda stood back with Casey, she heaved it into the glass. It didn’t break the first time, or the second, but on the third attempt, she put everything into the swing, and a piece of glass the size of a football exploded, sending shards all over the kitchen worktop. Feeling a grim sense of satisfaction, Jess put her hand through the hole and turned the handle, opening the window. She leant in and used the still-intact plant pot to sweep the glass onto the floor, then climbed through the open window and helped Casey in.

‘Won’t the people whose house this is mind you’ve smashed their window?’ asked Casey.

‘Course they won’t. They’ll just be happy we’re safe.’ She took Casey’s hand. ‘Come on, let’s see if we can find you some warm clothes.’

‘I’ll have a look for a phone,’ said Amanda, climbing through the open window and shutting it behind her.

But Jess didn’t see a phone as she moved through the empty house, finding a couple of towels in an airing cupboard in the hallway. There was a small single bedroom on the ground floor with long out-of-date Toy Story wallpaper covering the walls and a wardrobe opposite the bed. The only thing hanging up inside was a navy blue dressing gown with a picture of Buzz Lightyear on the back, which looked as if it had been designed for a six year old. ‘Okay, Case, get those clothes off,’ said Jess, pulling it out.