CHILDHUNT: A Mystery & Suspense Thriller in the Bestselling Diana Rivers Series (The Diana Rivers Mysteries Book 5) by Faith Mortimer Page A

phone rang, and he leapt to answer it. Mutely, Debbie listened as he gabbled down the line and realised he must have been speaking to a neighbour.
    “I’ve just got home and found Debbie lying outside on the ground. No, she’s not injured…yes, I know. I found the house in darkness. I…I don’t know where the kids are. I haven’t had time to go and look for them. Can you wait a minute while I look upstairs?” Without waiting for an answer, he tore out of the kitchen and up the stairs, calling for Hannah and Charlie as he searched.
    Debbie could hear him running through the rooms, and she struggled to her feet. By the time she reached the stairs, William had returned and stood panting as he got his breath back. After throwing her a bleak look, he spoke into his phone once again. “No. They’re not here. Yes please. Call the police while I take care of Debbie. I don’t know what’s happened to her. She doesn’t seem able to speak…I think she’s in shock.”
    He threw his phone down and grabbed Debbie in his arms. “That was Roger, darling. He’s going to call the police for us. They’ll be here soon. Sweetheart, can’t you tell me what happened?” Looking round, he seemed to realise how cold the kitchen was as he shivered in his sweater. “Let’s go into the den. I’ll light the wood-burner.”
    William laid Debbie on a settee while he bent down and touched a match to the paper. There was soon a crackle as the twigs caught alight. He stood up and looked at his wife with concern. She still hadn’t uttered a word. He pulled a throw from the other settee and settled it round her. As he stood back up, it was then that he noticed her computer. The action in the room must have jerked the machine out of pause mode; he found he was staring at identical email he had received that morning.
    My God! How cruel! Whoever had sent the email to him had copied it to his wife. Of course! Why hadn’t he realised before? There was a noise at the back door and someone called out.
    “In here, Roger,” he answered.
    Debbie groaned, and William hurried over to her side. “Hush, darling. It’s all right…it’s only Roger come to help. He’s called the police. Do you understand? They’ll soon be here. Are you getting warmer?” By the time he turned back to greet Roger, he noticed he was already in the room. Roger’s gaze drifted from the pale woman lying on the settee to the photographs of her on the computer.
    William started to jump up, but something in Roger’s face told him he understood. He had read the email.
    Roger’s eyes slid back to William’s troubled ones. “We need help, William. Every minute is precious. Who knows who else has received that email?”
    William’s voice faltered as he replied. “I got it this morning. I was on the way home as soon as I read it, but my boss detained me. But I don’t understand. How do you know about Debbie?”
    “It’s a long story, and now isn’t the right time. We’ll discuss it later. But please, rest assured, I swear I had nothing to do with this. One thing is clear, though. You won’t be able to protect Debbie now. If he’s sent it out to even a few people, the entire community will know about it in a few hours.”
    Debbie shuddered as she thought about the photographs, especially the one showing her leaving the courts. She remembered Claude had been drowned at sea a week or so earlier. On her release, her emotions were taut and confused. She was relieved with her freedom, but she hadn’t wanted to live without her family.
    She knew that certain people would never have believed in her innocence and vowed to move away from the area as soon as she could. She had never been blonde before—her own hair colour was a lustrous chestnut—but she had no qualms about cutting off her hair and bleaching it. Then she decided to change her whole persona. Her clothes were exactly what Claude liked. He had always taken an interest in her wardrobe, but they were hardly