No Going Back by Lyndon Stacey

me.’
    â€˜And you didn’t think it might be better to get away. To call the police? To tell your mother?’ Daniel tried to keep any disbelief out of his voice. ‘Does she know where you are now? Have you called her since you escaped?’
    Katya shook her head, her gaze dropping. ‘She doesn’t have a telephone.’
    Hilary was horrified. ‘But surely there’s someone – a neighbour, perhaps? She must be out of her mind with worry.’
    â€˜It is a place with not many telephones, I think. People are poor.’
    â€˜But we must do something!’ Hilary turned to Daniel. ‘Someone must be told. The police, surely, could find Katya’s mother . . .’
    â€˜No! No police!’ Katya also looked to Daniel beseechingly. ‘You promised!’
    â€˜But your mother, my dear!’ Hilary was deeply concerned.
    â€˜She will guess who’s taken us. She was always afraid he would come.’
    â€˜But they could help you find your sister.’
    â€˜Daniel is going to help me?’ The statement lifted into a question at the end, and her eyes pleaded with him.
    â€˜I said I’d try,’ Daniel agreed cautiously.
    â€˜But I don’t understand . . .’ Hilary looked at him, quite plainly bewildered, and he responded with a lowering of his brows and a slight shake of his head. Thankfully, she read his meaning and merely shrugged. ‘Oh well. If you know what you’re doing.’
    â€˜I hope so. But we need to decide what to do next, don’t we, Kat? You say you’ve no idea where your sister is. Don’t you remember anything at all about the place?’
    Katya shook her head helplessly. ‘No, not really. It is dark when we are taken there and we aren’t allowed outside. When we escape, we run really fast into the trees at the back and then across the moor.’
    â€˜How did you escape?’ Hilary asked.
    â€˜We climb out of a window on to the roof and then down a tree,’ Kat replied, as if it were the most natural thing.
    â€˜Oh, of course,’ Hilary murmured.
    â€˜So you wouldn’t recognize the house at all?’ Daniel persisted. ‘What about the garden? What could you see from the windows? Do you think you would recognize it if we drove by?’
    Katya thought hard. ‘There are gates. Big ones with stone posts and . . .’ she made an indeterminate movement with her hands as she struggled to find the word she wanted ‘. . . circles?’
    â€˜Spheres?’ Hilary suggested. ‘Like a ball?’
    â€˜Yes.’ Katya nodded eagerly. ‘A ball on top.’
    â€˜Well, that’s something to look out for,’ Daniel said. He told them about his attempt to retrace the girls’ steps from Stack Bridge.
    â€˜Did you do that this afternoon?’ Hilary asked. ‘I thought you were working.’
    â€˜No, at the weekend. Actually, I spent this afternoon trying to convince the boys from the local nick that I wasn’t attempting to ravish a young girl in the woods earlier. Your friend the major didn’t waste any time.’
    â€˜Oh dear. What did you tell them?’ It was Hilary who asked, but Daniel was aware that Katya was watching him like a hawk.
    â€˜I said that the young girl and I were friends and everything was fine. They were very keen to speak to Kat – to check out my story – but as they hadn’t a clue who she was, they were on a hiding to nothing.’
    â€˜So they let you go?’
    â€˜Eventually. After we’d dealt with the major’s allegation of assault.’
    â€˜But he hit you , didn’t he?’ Hilary frowned.
    â€˜Mm. That’s what I told them. It’s all right now, but it took a ridiculous amount of time to sort out. And speaking of time . . .’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got an early start tomorrow, so I’d better be on my way. I