Chapter 24

Laurel waits for Floyd’s promised call and, despite mild irritation at his punctuality, slips into playful intimacy. Their flirtation is cut short when Blue calls from Jake’s phone to warn that Floyd’s “aura is dark,” claiming he hides something. Jake backs Blue’s intuition, provoking Laurel to defend her new happiness and rebuke them. Shaken, Laurel drinks, avoids calling Floyd back, and ends the night with a light, reassuring text exchange.

The following evening at Floyd’s, Laurel finds Sara-Jade upset after a fight with her mother, Kate. Sara-Jade reveals an affair with a forty-nine-year-old course leader who has a long-term partner and four children. Floyd withholds sympathy, so Laurel follows Sara-Jade, offering calm, candid guidance. Laurel discloses a youthful affair of her own, then probes: the relationship is secretive, largely confined to his office, and without public outings. Laurel urges Sara-Jade to weigh her feelings against the potential harm to the man’s family and the inevitability of discovery.

As they bond, Sara-Jade asks about Laurel’s marriage breakdown and whether the children were hurt, prompting Laurel’s rueful admission that the family was already broken by Ellie’s disappearance. The conversation shifts as Sara-Jade, after researching Ellie online, questions the runaway theory—especially that Ellie’s rucksack still contained only her original belongings years later. The implication unsettles Laurel, who had rationalized the oddity.

Sara-Jade begins to mention “something really strange” about Poppy’s mum, hinting at a connection or anomaly, when Floyd enters with tea, ending the moment. Laurel and Sara-Jade silently acknowledge that their unfinished conversation—and its troubling implications—must continue later.