Civvy Street (44 page)

‘What have you got in your backpacks?’ she said. ‘Let’s put on as many layers as we can.’

Ella, in the back seat, passed Katie’s backpack forwards and unzipped her own. The girls extricated their school sweatshirts which they put under their hoodies and then put their anoraks back on top.

‘Better?’ said Susie.

‘A bit,’ they admitted.

Susie looked through the car windscreen at the encroaching water. It had been down by the bend in the road a while ago and now the flood was only about twenty yards away. It wasn’t deep – maybe only a few inches – but it was creeping closer and closer and who knew how deep it would end up once they were in the thick of it.

‘Do you think we’ll be here all night?’ asked Katie.

‘Goodness, no,’ said Susie with false confidence. ‘I bet half of the Wiltshire police force is out looking for us by now.’

‘Do you think?’

Susie nodded. ‘And it won’t be dark for ages yet,’ she added, more to reassure herself rather than her daughters. But as she said it she noticed the light was fading fast, the colours were starting to leach out of the already drab countryside. She glanced at the car clock. Three o’clock. At this end of November there was only about another hour left of useable daylight.

‘Why haven’t we seen any cars? asked Ella.

Why indeed, although Susie suspected it was because all the roads round and about were now flooded. ‘It’s not a very nice day to be out and about, is it? I expect most people have decided to stay indoors today.’

‘I wish we had,’ said Katie.

You and me both, thought Susie. ‘It’ll be something to tell your classmates on Monday.’

‘If we get rescued,’ said Ella.

‘Of course we will.’

‘But what if no one comes before it gets dark?’

‘Well, we’ll just have to put on
all
our spare clothes and snuggle down here for the night. But it won’t come to that.’

‘Won’t it?’

‘No.’ And she hoped her own mounting feeling of panic didn’t show in her voice.

*

‘Mike. Mike!’

Mike opened his eyes and instantly he was alert. He glanced at his watch – three thirty – and then looked at the nearest window. It was getting quite dark outside. Another night of misery for the poor people of the Bavant valley. He yawned as the last vestige of sleep left him. He looked at the constable who’d woken him. ‘You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long. I only needed a power-nap.’

The police officer didn’t look convinced. ‘I’d have let you sleep longer, mate, but we’ve had a misper report.’

‘Misper?’

‘Missing person. A Mrs Susie Collins. Any rela—’

‘Susie? That’s my wife.’ Mike felt a stab of worry punch him.

‘Oh. She was reported missing an hour or so ago – by a Mrs...’ The constable consulted his notebook.

‘Fanshaw,’ supplied Mike.

The constable looked up. ‘That’s right, sir. Anyway, we’ve had patrols out looking for her but they’ve not found any sign yet.’

That nugget of information wasn’t helping Mike’s blood pressure. He picked up his phone. Seb had called Maddy from his phone – the number would be in the call log. He scrolled through the menu till he found what he wanted and hit the icon.

‘Maddy. It’s Mike.’

‘Oh, Mike. Have they found her?’

‘No. Have you any idea where she might be?’

Maddy told him the story of the flood and the van driver and the planned rendezvous in Ashton-cum-Bavant.

‘So she could be anywhere?’ he said.

‘Only south of that road, I would think,’ said Maddy, with logic. ‘Mike, you will keep me in the picture, won’t you?’

Mike promised to, then he rang off and strode across the pub to where the maps of the area were. He squinted at the main one, his finger tracing the road from Winterspring Ducis to Warminster, and then south to the village of Ashton-cum-Bavant. The area Susie had to be in wasn’t huge. The trouble was, floodwater now affected quite a sizeable chunk of it.

The chief superintendent joined him. ‘I’ve just heard the news, Mike. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s a worry, certainly,’ said Mike, trying to sound calm when he was anything but.

‘We’re going to task the helicopter.’

Mike was about to ask if it was necessary, but only because it seemed such a drastic step and he didn’t really want to admit, even to himself, that his wife and children might be in serious danger. Instead, he just nodded and tried not to think about his family, out in the near-dark, in the pouring rain, cold, frightened and alone.

He busied himself with looking at the latest reports from the Environment Agency about the water levels and the forecast from the Met Office. He tried to find some positives in what they were saying but it was a struggle. The rain was set to continue through most of the night, although not as heavily, and the rivers were still rising but not as fast. The only conclusion Mike could draw was that things were set to get marginally worse before they got better. But how much worse?

‘Mike?’

He put the briefing papers back on the table and looked around. Who wanted him now? Talking of things getting worse...

‘Rob. What can I do for you?’ he said.

‘You didn’t tell me the prime minister was here?’ Rob glared at him.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Another twat who felt they ought to have been introduced. Mike counted to three.

‘Well?’ insisted Rob.

‘I didn’t know myself he was going to be here. I got back from standing in for the chief super at the press briefing and there he was.’

Rob’s face indicated he didn’t believe a word he’d said. ‘Come off it.’

Mike had had enough. ‘Do you know, Rob, I really don’t care what you believe. I’m too tired and too busy to play games.’ He turned back to the reports on his table.

‘I hope you told him that the district council has done everything possible to try and mitigate the effect of a flood like this.’

Mike thought about the files in his briefcase, the peremptorily dismissed report about future flood defence planning, and nearly pointed out that while
he’d
done as much as he could, Rob had done the reverse. Instead he just said, ‘The question didn’t arise. All the PM wanted to know was what was actually happening and what we were doing to help those affected.’

‘Oh.’ Rob didn’t look particularly placated – not that Mike cared one way or the other. ‘Just as long as the council doesn’t come out of this in a bad light. It wouldn’t do, you know.’

Mike knew exactly what Rob was getting at and it wasn’t the council he was worried about but his own poor judgement. ‘No, Rob. I know what you mean.’

Oh yes.

*

Susie sat in the back of the car, cuddling her daughters, trying to keep them warm by holding them close to her. She wished she had a rug or a thermos or anything that she could offer them to help keep them warm but they’d left the house in such a rush she hadn’t thought about an emergency like this. The only good thing, she thought, was they were still dry. She leaned across Katie and rubbed condensation off the window but it was so dark outside now she couldn’t see a blind thing. She wondered what the water level was doing.

‘Mum,’ said Ella. ‘My feet are wet.’

Susie froze. ‘What?’ She put her hand down and touched the mats in the footwell. Ella was right; the mats were sodden. Now things were getting really serious. She leaned forwards, squeezing herself between the two front seats and turned the headlight knob. Light beamed out across the road – or rather, where the road should have been. Instead they seemed to be in the middle of a lake.

Fuck, she thought as she sat back down on the back seat.

‘What are we going to do, Mummy?’ said Katie in a very shaky voice.

‘Nothing much we can do,’ said Susie. ‘But someone will come along. Even if we have to stay here all night.’ She put her arms back round her daughters and gave them both a cuddle. ‘We may get a bit wet and we may get a bit cold but people survive much worse than this. We’ll be all right. And I bet there are people out looking for us, lots and lots of people.’

‘You think?’ said Ella. She didn’t sound at all convinced.

‘Absolutely positive.’

‘Mummy...?’ said Katie.

‘Yes, sweetie.’

‘Is this punishment for being naughty?’

For a second Susie was dumbfounded. Why on
earth
would Katie think that? ‘Of course not. Besides, it’s not just us in this pickle, is it? Half the county is underwater and I can’t believe all those poor people did something dreadful. Anyway, you haven’t been so very naughty – not in the great scheme of things.’

‘We have, though,’ said Ella.

‘I don’t think smoking the odd ciggy deserves this.’

‘But it wasn’t just that,’ said Katie.

‘Maybe not, but I don’t think we need to talk about it right now.’

‘But we do,’ insisted Katie.

‘Like?’ asked Susie.

‘Like...’ Katie dried up.

‘Like we nicked money off you, Mummy,’ said Ella.

Oh. Susie hadn’t expected that.

‘And we smoked pot,’ said Katie.

Shit. Susie was at a complete loss. She had no idea what to say. The silence continued.

‘Mum?’ said Katie. She sounded close to tears.

‘Sorry,’ said Susie. ‘Sorry, just... well, what you’ve owned up to is bit of a facer.’

‘Are you really angry?’ said Ella.

‘More a bit shocked, really.’

‘Are you going to tell Daddy?’ asked Katie.

‘I think I ought to, don’t you?’ On either side of her she felt the girls nod their heads. ‘And I know he’ll be a bit disappointed.’ Susie raised her eyes. Disappointed? He was going to go ballistic. ‘But if you never do any of those things again, he’ll get over it.’ Eventually.

‘Do you think?’ said Ella.

‘We’ve all made mistakes. Done things we oughtn’t to have done. It’s learning from these things that’s important.’

Silence fell. Susie wondered just how she’d break the news to Mike – if she got the chance to, that was. The silence stretched on. She wondered about suggesting they all sang to keep their spirits up but she wasn’t sure whether it smacked of desperation or if it was just lame.

‘We’re not going to die, are we, Mummy?’ said Ella after some minutes.

‘No, no we’re not. Trust me.’

Susie hoped to God she was going to be proved right.

And then the battery, run down by Susie’s repeated attempts to start the car, finally ran out of juice and the headlights dimmed and went out.

*

Seb strode into the operations centre. He was wet and cold and utterly knackered – filling and shifting sandbags was exhausting and he hadn’t had the chance to dry out properly after getting soaked at the river. He made his way over to where Mike was standing, by the maps of the area.

‘Hi, Mike. Tell me the rumour I’ve heard about your missus isn’t true.’ But a proper look at Mike’s exhausted and haggard face told him it was and Mike’s weary nod confirmed it. ‘God, I am so sorry.’

‘They’ve scrambled the helicopter. I keep telling myself they’ll be OK, but that business with Perkins was a close call. It brings it all home just how dangerous floods can be. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to them.’

‘It won’t.’

‘But they’ve been missing for five hours now. Five hours.’

Seb patted Mike on the shoulder. ‘You must be worried sick.’

Mike nodded. He gave a mirthless bark of laughter. ‘I’m so worried I don’t even want a drink. That’s got to be a first.’

‘Shit, I don’t know what to say.’

‘There’s nothing to say, not till we find out what the situation is. One way or the other,’ he added glumly. ‘Thank God, Maddy rang the police to alert them that Susie was missing.’

‘Talking of Maddy, can I give her another call?’

‘Be my guest.’ Mike handed over his mobile.

Five seconds later Seb was talking to her.

‘You must be sitting on the phone, you answered it so quickly,’ he said to her.

‘I am. I’m so worried. Any news?’

‘Not a sausage. And well done you, for reporting it to the police.’

‘So didn’t Jack Rayner pass the news on?’

‘Rayner? Should he have done?’

‘I had Camilla round earlier – I asked her to tell her husband. What with you having lost your phone and me not having Mike’s number, I didn’t know how to let you know Susie never arrived here. I asked her to help.’ Maddy snorted in disgust. ‘It appears she couldn’t be bothered.’

‘Jesus H,’ said Seb. ‘Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll ring as soon as I know anything, promise.’ He severed the connection and turned to Mike. ‘You’ll never guess what Maddy just told me...’

Mike’s eyes narrowed as Seb finished the tale. ‘I missed a call from him earlier so maybe he did try and pass on the news.’ But his tone of voice suggested he didn’t really believe this. ‘And then when I saw him face to face later he was mad at me because the PM spoke to me not him. He said he had some information but that it could wait. He wouldn’t... I mean, not even Rayner...’

Seb shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t put it past him.’ As Seb said that, Rayner entered the pub, shaking water off his jacket and pulling his sodden beret off his head. ‘Let’s ask him, shall we?’ Seb and Mike approached him.

‘A word, please, Jack.’

Rayner looked daggers at Mike for calling him by his first name.

‘Can it wait?’ he snapped. ‘I’m cold and tired and I’d like some coffee.’

‘Actually, it can’t,’ said Mike. ‘I expect my wife is cold and wet – and my children too.’

Rayner looked shifty. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Maddy asked your wife to pass a message to tell me Susie hadn’t arrived at her house,’ said Mike. Seb thought he sounded remarkably calm. If it had been him, he’d have probably had Rayner by the throat.

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ blustered the colonel.

‘I think you do. Maddy has just told us herself. So either Camilla didn’t think the information was important enough to pass on, or you didn’t. Either way, whichever of you is responsible, I think you are both utterly despicable.’ Mike turned on his heel and left Rayner standing there with his mouth open.

‘Seb,’ said Rayner after a pause of a few seconds. ‘Seb, I tried to tell Mike but he was too busy throwing his weight around. He wouldn’t listen to me. You believe me, don’t you? You know I wouldn’t do anything like that.’