Yorkshire Wolds

The Yorkshire Wolds is the isolated North Yorkshire setting where James Clements is believed to have gone after leaving in 2013, and where Jo searches for him. Its empty roads and fields lead to a weathered cottage whose apparent abandonment is unsettled by smoke from the chimney and the sound of a child crying inside.

A Place of Uncertain Retreat

When asked where James is now, an informant says he is somewhere in the Wolds, probably in North Yorkshire. The answer is tentative: James moved away in autumn 2013, and the informant has not heard from him since. To the informant’s knowledge, neither has Darren. The Wolds is thus introduced not as a confirmed address but as the likely destination of a man who has withdrawn from contact.

The Search Near Malton

Jo’s search brings her to a deserted road about a mile and a half outside Malton. Neatly trimmed hedges, punctuated by trees, enclose grass fields, but no houses are visible. The satnav announces that Jo has reached her destination, although the landscape offers no obvious sign of it; Jo concludes that the place must be somewhere nearby. The mismatch between a precise navigation instruction and an indistinct rural setting makes the search itself an encounter with uncertainty.

The Cottage

The destination proves to be a cottage with flaking, faded white paint on its wooden porch and window frames, and overgrown grass around the building. Though it initially appears abandoned, grey smoke curls from its single chimney. The contrast between neglected exterior and evidence of a live fire leaves its condition unresolved: it is run-down, but not plainly empty.

Jo knocks three times with an iron fox-head knocker. At first, the sound echoes within; when she knocks again, another noise answers, seeming to be a child softly crying. The Wolds setting therefore shifts from a place identified only through hearsay to the threshold of a potentially occupied home, where the search ends on an unanswered, unsettling sound.