Trusting a Stranger by Kimberley Brown Page B

probably intensified because Ethan could not have mentioned her to Elspeth before.
    â€˜Here we are,’ said Ethan as they pulled up beside another Tuscan style building, this one even larger and more grand than his own.
    Hayley opened her door and climbed out from the low seat. She could hear gravel crunching as Ethan walked around to join her.
    How odd it felt to be back near a school. Hayley had walked away from her own at the end of her final year with a feeling of relief and gladness that she would never had to go back. She hadn’t liked it there, where there were too many people around always telling her what to do. As no doubt happened to the poor girls who lived and studied here.
    There were two wide, tall green doors before them, both of them locked. Ethan went up to one and pressed the intercom button beside it before announcing himself.
    â€˜Signor MacDonald!’ a voice crackled back at them. It was rich with a heavy Italian accent. ‘I will be right down.’
    Ethan stepped back and looked at Hayley. Once again, he was showing all the signs of tension. His shoulders were square and high, his hands clutching a wallet to one side, his mobile phone to the other. More than anything else, she hoped that when the door was opened it would be Katy herself who was there, a happy little girl excited about seeing her Daddy who would come running through and throw herself into his arms.
    But when the door opened, it revealed a tall and iron-haired woman in a long green dress. ‘Signor MacDonald,’ she said, and then nodded at Hayley. ‘Signora. But you are back very soon. Was something forgotten?’
    â€˜I told you I’d be coming,’ Ethan said. His voice betrayed the kind of confusion that Hayley felt. The two of them were quite clearly not expected.
    â€˜You told me someone would come for her,’ the woman said. Now she was also looking confused. And not a little worried.
    Why was this all taking so long? Hayley wanted to scream at the woman to tell her to hurry up, to explain what was going on. Beside her, the same emotions were radiating from Ethan.
    â€˜And her aunt,’ the woman continued, ‘Signora Pearl. She was here to pick her up just half an hour ago. She said you sent her…’

Chapter Seven
    â€˜What do you mean?’ Ethan demanded, stepping forward.
    The headmistress took a responding step back. Later, he would think he couldn’t blame her for this. He must have looked like he was fit to murder her.
    He certainly felt like he was fit to murder her.
    â€˜Someone already came and took Katy away?’ asked Hayley, as if it wasn’t already all too obvious that this was what was going on.
    â€˜Pearl wasn’t operating on your instructions?’ asked the headmistress. Her face had gone white.
    Ethan shook his head.
    â€˜Step inside. I’ll see what else I can find out.’
    She turned and walked into a wide, honey-coloured hall. ‘Miss Morris?’ she called out, pressing one of a row of buttons beside the hallstand.
    A head poked out through the nearest door. ‘Yes, Anna?’
    â€˜Mr MacDonald is here. Katy’s father.’
    â€˜Did you forget something?’
    â€˜Mr MacDonald has come to collect Katy.’
    â€˜But she already — Oh!’ The woman’s face sank into an expression of horror. ‘They’ve only just left,’ she said. ‘It took a while for Katy to pick up her stuff. Their car might still be —’
    It was all the invitation and information that Ethan needed. Ethan span on his heel and raced back through the front door. The car park where he had left his sports car was twenty metres away. Even as he watched, he heard an engine revving and an expensive blue car shot forward into view.
    â€˜That’s him?’ he heard Hayley asking behind him.
    â€˜Yes,’ said the second of the teachers. ‘They —’
    What she had been about to say was