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stood at the window looking out over the distant woods.  Never in my life had I seen such darkness.  Even when Lou and I went camping with ou r d ad in the Adirondacks , there was always a glimmer of distant lights visible from our campsite , and snatches of conversation and songs of the other campers floating toward us on the wind . 
    The darkness outside my window was not dotted by the lights of a distant town , or sliced through by the headlights of an approaching car.  I could see the darker outline of trees against sky , and could just make out the wall surrounding the castle, but not much else.  There weren’t even any boats on the river navigating their way by the light of a lantern swinging from a beam.  I could hear an owl hooting somewhere in the distance , and the sounds of horses, restless in their stalls, were carried on the breeze ; but there were no sounds of people , and I closed the window , shivering with anxiety.  I hadn’t known what scared and alone was until today , and I crawled back into bed, pulling the coverlet over my head , trying not to think of what Luisa must be going through at that very moment and cried myself to sleep.

 
     
    Chapter 5
    Present Day
     
    Louisa sat with her head in her hands, elbows leaning on the table.  When Valerie did ’ t show up promptly at six, she ordered herself a glass of Chardonnay and sat down at the polished bar to wait.  She was a few minutes early anyway , so she exchanged a few comments about the weather with the barman before checking her watch again.  Luisa took a sip of wine, enjoying its cold, crisp bouquet , and wondered what kind of mood Valerie would be in when she got there.  Tomorrow was Michael’s wedding day , and she couldn’t blame her sister for feeling awful.  The man deserved to be drawn and quartered as far as she was concerned, leaving Val like that , and flaunting his pregnant girlfriend for all the world to see .  He was starting a whole new life, while her sister had to rebuild hers piece by little piece, starting with her self-esteem and the ability to ever trust a man again. 
    By 6:30 pm Luisa began to get a little annoyed , and she looked at her watch more frequently thinking of the talking to that Val was going to get when she finally arrived.  Being a few minutes late was no big deal, but it was over half an hour now and that was bordering on rude.  She was hungry too , so she asked for the menu to distract herself from watching the door. 
    Annoyance turned into worry by 7:00 pm and Lou began getting that gnawing feeling in her stomach , feeling that something was definitely wrong.  It was only an hour and too soon to alert the police or truly panic, but her sister was never more th a n a few minutes late , and this was definitely out of character.  The young barman tried to distract Louisa with conversation , seeing her get more frantic by the minute, but he secretly thought that her sister just got held up somewhere and would be there momentarily.  He smiled when he thought of the tongue-lashing she would get from her irate sibling. 
    Louisa finally asked the barman to call the police by 8:00 pm.  He gave her a dubious look, but dialed the number and asked the constable to come over to the pub right away.  Constable Gary Tomkins arrived five minutes later, notepad in hand, ready to take down the information.  His last crime had been the theft of some fish off a boat as a practical joke , and he was seriously hoping for something he could sink his teeth into.  A suspicious disappearance of a tourist could certainly be a case to make his career, especially if he managed to track her down to some dangerous location, having been accosted by dangerous types and in need of heroic rescue.  The constable reluctantly pushed his fantasy to the back of his mind and sat down with Louisa to take down her statement.  He instructed the barman to look out for Valerie , while he took Louisa into his cruiser for a ride