LITMIR.BIZ

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through embarrassment or the heat from the fire, he had no idea.

      ‘I’m the school nurse,’ she said. ‘Look, I know I’m a bit, um, round…’ her colour deepened and she looked at the floor ‘… and I’m not as strong as you, but the children are only little. Matty and I can lift them up between us and pass them through to you. And I can check them over while I’m in there and make sure they’re all right.’

      ‘I see where you’re coming from,’ he said, ‘but you’re a civilian. I can’t let you take that risk.’

      ‘But I know the children,’ she said, her voice earnest—though she still wasn’t looking at him, Tom noticed. ‘It’ll be less frightening for them if I go in to help.’ She bit her lip. ‘I know it’s dangerous, but I won’t do anything reckless. And we need to get the children out quickly. ‘

      True. And, the faster they did that, the sooner he’d see Joey. That was the clincher for him. ‘All right. Thank you.’

      She nodded. ‘I’m sorry I’m, um, a bit heavy.’

      He looked at her properly then. Yes, she was curvy. Plump, if he was brutally honest. But there was a sweetness and kindness in her face, a genuine desire to help—something that he knew had been missing from the other women he’d dated. Sure, they might have been tall and leggy and jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but they would’ve fussed about chipping a nail. And he knew who he’d rather have beside him in this crisis. Definitely the school nurse.

      And she had the sweetest, softest mouth. A mouth that made him want to…

      Whatever was the matter with him? His nephew was missing, he had a job to do, and he was thinking about what it would be like to kiss a complete stranger? For pity’s sake—he needed to concentrate!

      ‘You’re fine,’ he said, and proved it by lifting her up to the window as if she weighed no more than a feather.

      She scrambled through, and Tom almost forgot to breathe while he waited. Were the children all right? Was Joey safe?

      And then Matty Roper and the school nurse came to the window and started lifting the children through, and there just wasn’t time to ask about Joey as he took the children one by one and passed them over to the team of medics lining up behind him ready to check over the children.

      Three.

      Four.

      He swallowed hard. The next one would be Joey.

      Except the next person to come to the window was Matty Roper.

      ‘Where’s Joey?’ he asked urgently. ‘The head said there were five children missing—that they were in the quiet room with you.’

      ‘Only four,’ Matty said. ‘And Joey wasn’t one of them.’

      ‘But he has to be. There were five children missing. He was one of them.’

      ‘I’m sorry, Tom. I only took four children to the quiet room with me and they’re all accounted for.’

      Panic flowed through him, making every muscle feel like lead. How could Joey be missing? How?

      ‘Please, Matty. Check again. Just in case he came in and you didn’t see him.’

      ‘Tom, I know he didn’t,’ Matty said gently. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘Then where the hell is he?‘ Tom burst out in desperation.

      ‘I don’t know.’ She looked nervously at the supports against the wall. ‘Is this going to hold?’

      This was his job. He had to get Matty and the school nurse out. And then he could start to look for Joey.

      Please, God, let it not be too late.

      Grim-faced, he helped Matty through the window, and then the nurse.

      Once they were both standing on safe ground, he leaned through the window. ‘Joey! Joey, where are you?’

      No answer.

      Was he trapped in one of the other classrooms? ‘Joey!’ he bellowed.

      ‘Do you mean Joey Barber?’ the nurse asked.

      ‘Yes.’ She’d seen the other children, Tom thought, so maybe she’d seen his nephew. ‘Have you seen him?’

      She shook her head. ‘Not today.’ Again, she didn’t meet his eyes. ‘He’s the little boy who lost his parents just after New Year, isn’t he?’

      ‘My sister and her husband,’ Tom confirmed. And it was beginning to look as if Joey might be joining his parents. No, no, no. It couldn’t happen. He couldn’t bear it. ‘The head said there were five children missing. Now it’s just Joey. Oh, hell, can’t he hear me? Why isn’t he answering?’ He yelled Joey’s name again.

      The nurse squeezed his hand. ‘The noise of the explosion will have scared him and probably brought back memories of the car crash. Right now, even if he can hear you, he’s probably too scared to answer. ‘

      He thought about it and realised that she was right. ‘Not that he speaks much anyway, since the accident,’ Tom said wryly. ‘He barely strings two words together now. It’s been so hard to reach him since Susie and Kevin died.’ He dragged in a breath. ‘If anything’s happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself.’ He’d never be able to live with the guilt: his sister had asked him to look after her precious child, and he’d failed. Big time.

      ‘This isn’t your fault,’ she said softly. ‘You can’t blame yourself.’

      ‘I need to find him.’ He handed over his damping-down duties to one of his colleagues and went in search of the station manager. ‘Guv, Joey’s still missing. I need to find him. Please.’

      ‘All right.’ Steve looked at him, grim-faced. ‘But you don’t take any risks, you hear me?’

      ‘I won’t,’ Tom promised. He wouldn’t put anyone in danger. But he’d take the buildings apart with his bare hands if he had to, to find his nephew.

      ‘I, um, could help you look for him, if you like.’ The nurse was by his side again. ‘He knows me, and a familiar face might help.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Tom looked at her. ‘I don’t even know your name,’ he blurted out.

      ‘Flora. Flora Loveday.’ Her face reddened again. ‘And I know it’s a stupid name. I’m not a delicate little flower.’

      ‘No.’ He was beginning to realise now that she was shy, like the proverbial violet—that was why she blushed and couldn’t quite get her words out and found it hard to look him in the eye—but he had a feeling that there was much more to Flora Loveday than that. She’d put herself in a dangerous situation to help the children. ‘No, you’re like a…a peony,’ Tom said, thinking of the flowers his mother had always grown in summer. ‘Brave and bright and strong.’

      Her blush deepened to the point where she seriously resembled the flower.

      ‘I’m Tom. Tom Nicholson.’

      She nodded but said nothing and looked away.

      With Flora by his side, he checked with Rosemary Bailey and the rest of the fire crew. All the areas had been cleared, and nobody had seen Joey.

      He eyed the wreckage. Fear tightened round his chest, to the point where he could barely breathe. Where was Joey? ‘Maybe he’s in the toilets,’ he said.

      Flora shook her head. ‘They’ve been checked.’

      ‘He has to be here. He has to be.’ Desperately, he yelled Joey’s name again.

      ‘If he’s scared already, shouting is only going to make him panic more,’ she said quietly. She paused. ‘When I was Joey’s age, I hated going to school. I used to hide in the cloakrooms. ‘

      Tom

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