TOYL

controlled. But tonight was different. The thought had been weighing on her mind for months – whether this wedding fortnight was really the start of something much better or the testing point where everything fell apart at the seams.
    Just like last time.
    ‘You’re under a lot of pressure,’ Lizzy said. ‘You’re getting married in two weeks, for heaven’s sake. Plus you’ve got the biggest audition of your life coming up in two days’ time. Big things are happening, girl!’
    Lizzy was right. An upcoming wedding would be enough to unsettle anyone, but adding a potential career-making movie role into the equation really cranked up the tension. Emma was desperate to get the part in the new British romantic comedy – it would be a major step up from the daytime soap she’d spent three years on and her recent appearances in a variety of London stage plays. It was the break she’d been working so hard for, and never dared to hope might one day arise.
    ‘I know it’ll turn out to be nothing,’ she said, trying to rationalise the situation, ‘but why disappear tonight of all nights?’
    ‘You want to go back to the flat, check if everything’s all right?’
    ‘Would you mind?’
    ‘Not at all.’ Lizzy took Emma’s drink off her and handed it to Sarah, another one of the hen party, who was sporting not just a cowgirl outfit but also a holster complete with plastic gun. ‘We can leave this lot here. We’ll catch up with them once we’ve found that man of yours. Bloody men, eh?’ She wrapped an arm around Emma’s shoulders and gave her a motherly hug. ‘Always want to be the centre of attention.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Emma said, trying her best to smile, ‘bloody men.’
    During the taxi ride she tried Dan’s mobile another three times. Each time the phone went straight through to the answer service. She also called Will, who confirmed that Dan still hadn’t appeared or answered the intercom. As the taxi twisted and turned through the bustling streets of the capital a sickening feeling of loneliness swelled inside her, refusing to go away, sending her stomach into freefall.
    ‘Please, God,’ she whispered to herself, resting her forehead against the taxi window, trying to stop her mind from racing. ‘Please don’t let it happen again.’

2

    ‘Still nothing?’ Emma asked, as she climbed out of the taxi and approached Will.
    Will was sitting on the apartment steps with his arms folded, wearing designer trousers and a bright white shirt that clashed dramatically with his thick dark hair. He shook his head and unfurled his bottom lip. Although he was only a few months short of thirty, he looked like a little boy waiting for mummy to come home.
    ‘I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, Em,’ Lizzy said comfortingly, moving across to them as the taxi drove off.
    Emma looked up at the top window of their rented apartment, which overlooked Marylebone High Street. For a second she thought she saw a figure looking back at her, but it was just a trick of the light. She’d calmed down a lot during the taxi ride – the circular breathing, taught to her by her karate instructor ten years ago, had helped her refocus away from those overly negative thoughts. Okay, it was weird, Dan not turning up like that, but the likeliest scenario was that there would be a perfectly reasonable explanation for his disappearance.
    ‘She’s right.’ Will got up from the steps and dusted himself down. ‘I was thinking about it while you were on your way over here. I’m overreacting, like I normally do. And if it wasn’t for that bloody intercom security system, I’d have been able to go up there and check for myself.’
    ‘Couldn’t you have just sneaked in when someone came out?’ Lizzy suggested.
    ‘That was the plan,’ he replied. ‘But no one’s come in or out since I got here. Bloody annoying. I also pressed all those buttons –’ He pointed at the intercom on the wall. ‘But nobody answered.’
    ‘It’s deserted in there at the moment,’ Emma explained, dragging her gaze away from the window and back at Lizzy and Will. ‘A lot of people are on holiday, I think. I’ve hardly seen anyone on the stairs in the last couple of days, and the post is building up.’
    ‘Someone’s in there, though,’ Will countered. ‘You can hear music when you open the letterbox.’
    ‘Right.’ Emma looked up at the other front windows: no signs of movement in any of them. ‘We’d better get