Ambrose was climbing through the thick woods on the other side of the river. He didn't hear Michael calling his name a few dozen yards below him. He climbed to the top of the hill, and then went down the other side. He didn't know where he was going. He wasn't even paying attention, his mind so full of confused thoughts and painful memories. They were going round and round in his head, beating at him all at once – Niamh yelling and slamming the door, the determination in her eyes as she told him she hadn't changed her mind, the look in Sean's eyes all those times he'd seen them together, Kieran saying, "Why don't you stay here too, Daddy?", Kieran and Imelda smiling at the cake, Niamh smiling as she danced with Sean, Sean smiling, Kieran smiling…

He walked on.

...

"I dunno, it's a feeling Peter has," Brendan was saying as he and Danny walked back down the hill past the Garda house. "Fair enough, I s'pose – have you seen the look of Ambrose lately? He's become this crumbling shell of a man – completely broken hearted, poor feller."

The door of the Garda house opened and Imelda stepped out. "Could you keep the noise down?" she said. "Kieran's sleeping."

"Oh yeah, sorry." Brendan stepped towards her.

"You haven't found him, then?" she asked.

"No. But lots of people are looking, and he can't have got far – we'll find him."

"He's not himself anymore." Imelda looked distractedly down the street, shivering. She leant back into the house, took Ambrose's jacket off the hook and gave it to Brendan. "When you find him, give him this."

...

"Thanks," said Peter, taking a map from Michael and spreading it out on one of Fitzgerald's' larger tables. "Right. Where have we covered so far?"

"I've cycled through all the laneways around O'Connors' farm and the fields near there, and the grotto," said Brendan

"Oh, I went there as well!" said Danny. "I went all through the fields and woods around there, then I went further out along the road until I met Emma, and then we went and checked the fields on the other side."

"I've been up and down the river in both directions," said Michael.

"I've driven just about everywhere you can drive," said Brian.

"The thing is," said Emma, "It's been nearly four hours now, and there's no sign of him. I mean, shouldn't we call Search and Rescue or something?"

"I tried," said Father Aiden. "They said, 'Notify your local gard' – I said, 'He's the one we're looking for!'"

"Yeah, I tried too," said Peter. "There's just a night operator on now – they said they can't do anything 'till the morning."

"I don't think there's much we can do 'till morning either," said Brian. "It's nearly midnight."

"Well let's try and plot out where we've been," said Peter, producing a pencil and leaning over the map.

Brian turned away from him, and sat down on a bar stool in front of Assumpta. "Whiskey, please," he said.

"Yeah, me too," said Brendan, sinking into the stool beside him.

"Well, when you do find Ambrose," said Assumpta, "Don't tell him I was serving you drinks at midnight, now, will you?"

"No, no," said Brian. "Don't worry, we'll all have to go to bed soon, I think – we'll be out of your hair."

"Yeah," said Liam. "There's not much point keeping going now – it's such slow progress in the dark, messing around with torches and that, and if one of us slipped and hurt ourselves, well, then there'd be two people missing, now, wouldn't there?"

"Good point," said Father Aiden.

"Come on, guys, we can't stop!" said Peter. "We haven't found him yet!"

"I know," said Orla, "but this late, this dark and this cold, there's not much chance of us finding him until morning, is there? We need light – without that we're just endangering ourselves."

"There's not much chance, but there is some chance!" said Peter. "We have to try! It's freezing cold out there, and he doesn't have a jacket!"

"There's a reason Search and Rescuers stop at night, Peter," said Michael. "It's dangerous."

Peter looked around at everyone's faces. "Do you all want to stop?"

There was universal nodding.

"Right," said Peter. "Right, OK." He nodded. "That's fine, you all go and have a good rest. Will you come back in the morning? Michael, can you call Search and Rescue first thing?"

"Definitely."

"OK."

People began slowly filing out of the bar. Peter kept looking at the map, thinking hard. When only Brendan, Brian and Assumpta remained, he turned. "I'm going out again," he said.

"You are not," said Assumpta.

"Peter, don't be stupid," said Brendan.

"It's not stupid. I've worked it out. Where we haven't covered yet is the hills on the other side of the river – he must be there."

"That's all forest," said Brian.

"Yeah, I know," said Peter. "Maybe he got lost."

"You'll get lost too!" said Brendan.

"No, I'll stick to the paths."

"It's dangerous!" Brendan exclaimed. "What about your young wife here?"

"I'm going too," said Assumpta.

"What?" Brendan stared at her. So did Brian and Peter.

"I know those paths well, I've walked all over those hills," Assumpta continued.

"Can we agree on one thing?" said Brian, sighing. "No-one does this alone."

"Oh Brian, you can't be serious!" Brendan shook his head in disbelief.

Brian took his mobile phone out of his pocket and gave it to Peter. "Are you with me, Brendan?" he said.

"Oh, they get the phone and we don't, do they?"

"We'll stay in the car. I've got a car phone. There's a woodcutter's track that'll be big enough for the car – you two take the smaller tracks." Brian looked at Assumpta.

"OK," she replied.

...

Imelda sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at the empty vase that sat at its edge. A cold cup of tea sat in front of her.

There was a soft knock at the door, and she went to answer it.

"Hi," said Brian. "Just wanted to give you a progress report."