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He ended the call and turned to Anna, a look of apology on his face. ‘Um... I’ll drop you off at my place. It’s on the way...’
‘You will not. I can help, can’t I?’
Jamie smiled suddenly. ‘Yeah. Thanks, you can help.’
‘So what’s going on?’ She waited until he’d manoeuvred the car back out of the car park and was on the road.
‘Spark’s younger brother died of leukaemia four years ago. She started coming to the club when he was really ill, and she met Jen there and they became friends. Spark used to talk a lot about how her brother felt, and how her parents felt, but nothing about herself. She was all about looking after everyone else.’
‘Oh, poor Spark. You got her to talk?’
‘Eventually. It was a while before she’d even admit to feeling anything when her brother died. Jen really supported her, though she’s got problems of her own, and she understood what Spark was going through. Even if Spark didn’t tell Jen where she was going, I guessed she might have a good idea.’
‘Why now?’ Jamie had said today of all days.
‘It’s the fourth anniversary of her brother’s death today. Maybe Spark’s finally found some space in her head for her own grief.’
‘Her parents must be beside themselves.’
‘Yeah, they are. They called our weekend helpline, and Phil told them that we’d do all we could. I’d better get back to him...’
‘Let me do that. You keep driving.’ Anna picked up his phone from the dashboard. ‘What do you want me to say?’
‘Tell him that we’re on our way to meet Jen to see if she knows anything. He’s calling round to see if anyone else has seen her, and he’ll liaise with the police and her parents.’
The car slowed suddenly as the lights up ahead of them turned red. Jamie cursed under his breath, tapping his finger impatiently on the steering wheel. More than anything, his reaction made her fear the worst.
* * *
It took them thirteen minutes. A bus that was travelling ahead of them stopped, and Anna saw Jen get off and slump down on a seat in the bus shelter. She was taking her phone out of her pocket as Jamie drew up alongside her. Anna opened the car door, getting out of the front seat and beckoning to Jen to take her place.
‘Where to, Jen?’ Jamie’s voice was suddenly calm.
‘The railway lines, up by the station.’
Railway lines? Anna climbed into the back seat of the car, trying not to betray her concern.
‘Seat belt.’ Jamie waited while Jen fumbled with the seat belt, then started to drive. ‘Why there?’
‘Spark’s brother was in hospital in London at the end. Her parents used to go down there to be with him and Spark stayed with her aunt.’
Jamie nodded. ‘Yes, I remember. I went round there to see her a few times.’
‘She used to go and watch the trains. I went there a couple of times with her. We never told anyone, she was just watching.’
‘For her parents to come back?’
Jen shrugged. ‘No, not really. We wouldn’t have seen them even if they had been on the train. She said that she was at one end of the line and they were at the other, I guess it made her feel more connected to them. We just used to sit on the embankment for an hour and then go home.’
It was an intensely private and personal admission for Jen to make, and it showed the depth of trust that Jamie had built up with the kids that he tried to help. Two young girls, doing something that made no sense but somehow made them feel better. If only that something was in a slightly less isolated and safer place.
‘Okay. So we’ll start at the road bridge closest to Jen’s aunt’s house?’
‘Yeah. I reckon so.’
Jamie drew up in the centre of a wide bridge, and before either of them could stop her Jen tumbled out of the car, running across the pavement to the high railings. Jamie turned in his seat.
‘You’ll keep an eye on her?’
