It took one second to snatch the child. One silent, unseen moment to pluck her from the world. In a click of a finger, a blink of an eye, she was gone. As if, like a bird, she had just flown away.
Kate never speaks about the past, and you would never know at first who she was. But, if you looked closely, you might see how she glances nervously over her shoulder, as if she were being followed. If you paid attention, you might hear how carefully she speaks. And if you were to search, you might find the old newspaper clippings she keeps hidden away: Kidnap Girl "Like Wild animal", The Mysterious Disappearance of "Little Bird".
But these are just fragments of a long buried past – another life, another girl. Secrets left unspoken, until now...
Camilla Way was born in Greenwich, south-east London in 1973. Her father was the poet and author Peter Way. After attending Woolwich College she studied Modern English and French Literature at the University of Glamorgan. Formerly an editor on the men's style magazine Arena, Camilla Way is now a freelance writer. Having lived in Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Clerkenwell, she now lives in south-east London.