‘I wish it were that simple.’ Katie quickly ran her mind over all her options. ‘Whatever happens, I’ll have to ring them and let them know that you’re safe. They weren’t answering their mobiles when I tried earlier, but I’ve left a message for them on the answering machine at home.’
‘No, they’ve gone into town for the day. I said I was going to be at my friend’s house.’
Katie shook her head, shooting Jessica a quick glance. ‘I’m amazed that you managed to find your way here at all without getting into trouble of some sort.’
‘It was easy,’ Jessica said, with an air of unconcern. ‘I emptied my money box and went to the train station and asked for a ticket to Windermere. The man in the booth gave me a funny look, and I guessed he was a bit suspicious, so I told him I was going to visit my sister in the Lake District for the summer holidays and he said, “Oh, I see.”’
Katie frowned. ‘What did you plan on doing when you arrived at my house? I was out at work and the place is locked up.’
Jessica appeared crestfallen, but only for a moment. ‘I would have hung around until you came home.’ She gave Katie a contrite look and said quickly, ‘I won’t get in the way, I promise, and it’ll be cool if you let me live here with you, because I’d do everything to make things easier for you. I could tidy up and help you with meals and stuff. I know how hard you have to work and how tired you used to be after being in A and E all day, but with me around, things will be much better for you, honest.’
Katie couldn’t help but smile at her sister’s sincere expression. ‘I’m sure you would do everything you possibly could to help out, but that isn’t really what’s important right now, is it? We have to think about you, and what we can do to sort out your problems. It isn’t just a question of you coming to live here. There would be all sorts of arrangements to be made. How could I make sure that you would be properly looked after while I’m out at work?’
Jessica pulled in a quick breath. ‘I’m old enough to look after myself.’
Katie shook her head. ‘But you’re not, that’s the whole point. And then there’s school to think about. The holidays aren’t going to last for ever.’
Jessica’s mouth wavered as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. ‘I could go to school here, couldn’t I? You have to let me stay, Katie. Please, say you will, please, please? Things will work out all right, I know they will.’
‘Maybe. I left a message to say that I’d take care of you for a few days, whatever happens. We’ll talk it through properly when we get home.’ Katie slowed the car to a halt as the traffic came to a standstill. ‘If we ever get home…I thought we would avoid this hold-up by coming this way,’ she murmured distractedly. ‘It looks as though we’re going to be stuck here for a while, though.’
Jessica nodded and peered out of the window at the trouble up ahead. ‘It looks as though everything’s more or less sorted now. They’re closing the ambulance doors and getting ready to move away.’ She gave Katie a sideways glance. ‘You know, the man who helped me—Alex, he said his name was—took this road as well. I bet he’s wishing he’d gone another way. He’s still following us, just a few cars behind.’
‘Yes, I’d noticed.’ Katie glanced in her rear-view mirror and caught sight of the gleaming blue car slowing to a halt at a bend in the road. ‘Perhaps he’ll turn off before we get anywhere near Ambleside.’
It was wishful thinking, a vaguely consoling thought that she had clung on to as the journey had progressed. There was something about him that made her flustered and set her pulses racing, and it was all very disturbing. His calm, quietly perceptive manner ought to have encouraged her to feel that everything was under control, but instead he had stirred up all kinds of doubt and confusion within her.
She was left feeling unnerved and edgy, but of course that might have been as a result of all that had happened. All day long she had been active, rushing about, trying to resolve one problem after another, but now that she was stuck in traffic she was forced to be still, and it was an odd feeling. She tapped her fingers on the steering-wheel, beating out a restless rhythm.
Jessica dug her in the ribs. ‘Katie, look—there are skid marks on the road, right back here. Can you see them?’
Katie followed her sister’s pointing finger. ‘Yes, you’re right. It looks as though someone took the bend too fast, hit the barrier at the side of the road and then tried to stop further on.’
‘But he must have smashed into the car up front.’ Jessica’s eyes widened. ‘That must be one of the cars that they’re loading on to the retrieval truck right now.’
‘I hope the people who were hurt manage to come through this safely in the end,’ Katie murmured. She tried to gauge what was happening in the distance, but Jessica was jabbing her in the ribs again.
‘Something’s not right—look over there, in the bushes. I can see something. Come on, we have to go and find out what’s going on.’ Already, Jessica had released herself from her seat belt and was pushing at the passenger door.
‘Jess, come back here,’ Katie called out, but her sister wasn’t listening. She had jumped down onto the verge at the side of the road and now she was headed for the trees.
‘I don’t believe this,’ Katie muttered under her breath. ‘Will this nightmare never end?’ She manoeuvred the car onto the grass verge so that others could pass her, and then she switched off the ignition, sliding out of the driver’s seat to go in search of Jessica.
‘Over here,’ Jessica shouted. ‘There’s a man—Katie, I don’t think he’s breathing.’
Katie made her way through the thicket of brushwood that lined the hedgerow and saw that her sister was kneeling beside a man who was lying crumpled on his side on the meadow grass.
‘I saw his shoe through a break in the hedge,’ Jessica said, ‘so I guessed there might be someone here. Do you think he might have been thrown out of the car?’
Katie nodded. ‘It looks that way. I suppose the car door might have been flung open if it hit a post, and perhaps he wasn’t strapped in.’ She crouched down and was busy checking the young man for signs of life. He was in his early twenties, she guessed, and from the looks of things his jaw was broken. That would make it virtually impossible for anyone to insert an airway, and that could be disastrous, because he was already struggling for air, making strange gurgling sounds.
He wasn’t responding to Katie’s urgent attempts to talk to him and find out if he was aware of what was going on, and she knew that he was in a bad way. ‘His pulse is rapid and faint,’ Katie murmured, glancing up at Jessica, who was looking shocked and pale. ‘I need to help him to breathe. Do you think you could look in the glove compartment of my car for a pen or maybe a plastic drink straw, while I do what I can to clear the obstruction in his throat? And bring me the first-aid kit from the boot?’ She handed over the keys.
Jessica nodded, and hurried away. Katie was relieved. At least if the child had something to do, it would stop her from dwelling on the awfulness of the situation.
She rummaged in her bag, spilling some of the contents out onto the grass as she hastily searched for her phone. Finding it, she called for an ambulance. If only the paramedics who had attended the accident up ahead had stayed around for a few moments longer…but they hadn’t, and she had to deal with this calamity all by herself.
That thought barely had time to sink in before Jessica came back, and Katie’s eyes widened when she saw that her sister wasn’t alone. The man from the café was with her, his face taut with concern, a line indenting his brow. He came to kneel down beside her, so close that they were almost touching one another. Katie felt her senses swim.
‘Have