The Silent Witness by Casey Watson

Author:Casey Watson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Amazing how the prospect of adventure can take your mind off everything else, particularly when it’s an adventure tinged with an element of anxiety, as any trip to the capital would be for a homebody such as me. It had also been many years since I’d last ventured to London, and I was sure it would have changed a great deal.

So, far from fretting about our angry visitor, the meeting, or the possible outcome of the meeting (which wobbly bridge I would cross if and when we came to it) I was almost as excited as the kids were as Mike dropped us off at the train station at stupid o’clock on Saturday morning. The kids were all puffy-eyed from lack of sleep, which – I know it’s mad – gave me enormous pleasure. In our mile-a-minute world, with so many distractions available to children round every corner, it was good to see teenagers – and one almost-teenager, in Bella – so excited about the prospect of something as ordinary as a trip on a train, to see a train platform, in the company of a diminutive and slightly naggy middle-aged woman.

Though they’d be horrified to think it, Tyler and Denver were actually giggling together as Mike waved us off through the ticket barrier, and Bella, who’d not said a further word about recent developments, couldn’t seem to stop grinning.

‘Now remember your promise, kids,’ I said, for what was already probably the fourth time. ‘We all stick together, look out for each other, and never let anyone out of our sight. London is a massive place. Massive. And we could easily get lost in it.’

Denver patted my arm. ‘Stop panicking, Mrs W. I’ve been to the smoke twice, so I know my way round it. Don’t worry. I won’t let any of you get lost.’

Mike stuck a thumb up. ‘I’m counting on that, kiddo,’ he said. And while I wasn’t – for all his ‘smoke’ stuff, Denver couldn’t possibly know his way round more than a tiny fraction of it – I was definitely reassured by having two strapping fifteen-year-olds with me: safety in numbers. I just wished I could act on my small-hours idea, to have us all roped together, like mountaineers.

Still, the excitement was the main thing, and once we were safely boarded I felt relaxed enough to lose myself in the moment a little more. Though it seemed Bella still had other things on her mind. We’d not been able to bag a table so were sitting in two rows of two, the boys in front of us, and we’d not long left the suburbs behind when she tapped me lightly on the forearm with Dobby, who’d she brought along for the ride. (Something of an added worry in itself; I’d seriously wondered if I could get a tracker fitted for him.)

‘Casey, you know that woman?’ she whispered, cupping her hand around her hand and leaning close to my left ear.

I leaned in too. ‘Yes,’ I whispered back, as conscious as she was that we’d not discussed any of this with Ty yet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.