lurched. She had to find a way through the crush of people. ‘I need to go home—’ she said. ‘Excuse me.’
Her phone was still in her pocket. She felt a clench of relief as her hand closed about it. She could call Bill. He’d get someone to help her within five minutes. There was no need to panic. She felt shaky and light-headed as she dialled his number.
Suddenly the crush of people moved, falling back. Lizzie could see flashing blue lights at the top of the alleyway and several dark figures running towards her. There were voices calling out. She was blinded by the glare of torches. She pressed the button to end the call just as Bill’s answering message cut in.
‘Someone reported that Lizzie Kingdom had fallen in the river.’ A policewoman had come to a halt in front of her. Lizzie recognised her from the Blackfriars station. She was breathing heavily, resting her hands on her thighs, as though she’d run a marathon. ‘Does anyone know what happened…’
‘Nothing happened,’ Lizzie said. She was desperate to get away before this became any more of a circus. Panic clawed at her. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry for the false alarm.’
The policewoman straightened up and swung her torch around to Lizzie’s face. ‘Oh. It’s you, Ms Kingdom. You haven’t drowned.’ She sounded disappointed.
‘I’m fine,’ Lizzie repeated. She smiled weakly, trying to force a way through the press of people that had closed about them again. ‘I’m sorry for all the fuss. I felt a bit faint but I’m all right now.’
‘Take it easy, Ms Kingdom.’ A paramedic and another police officer had joined them now. The paramedic caught her elbow as she stumbled. ‘We should get you to hospital, check you over—’
‘Definitely not,’ Lizzie tried to sound authoritative. ‘Thank you so much for coming out but really, I’ll be OK now. My flat’s just around the corner. I’ll head back for a cup of tea.’
‘We found her slumped on the bench,’ a man in a striped sweatshirt and matching baseball cap pushed forward. ‘I thought she was drunk—’
‘Which I’m not,’ Lizzie put in hastily.
‘She was asking for someone called Johnny,’ the man said, as though she hadn’t even spoken. ‘Said he’d gone – disappeared. Into thin air, she said—’
‘I don’t think I did,’ Lizzie said. ‘I’m sure I didn’t say that.’
‘Well,’ the policewoman said as she and her colleague started to herd Lizzie through the crowd. ‘Let’s get you back home and we can talk about it.’
Lizzie swallowed her irritation at being treated like a child. Perhaps this was standard operating procedure. Anything that would get her away from this rather volatile crowd had to be good anyway. Once she was home, she could ring Johnny and see what had happened to him. It would all be fine. Perhaps he’d been scared and run away when the psychometry had grabbed her so violently and so suddenly. That would hardly be surprising even though he already knew she possessed the gift. He’d said he was fine with paranormal stuff but that was in theory. Seeing it in practice was a different matter.
A light rain settled against her skin and made her shiver again. The paramedic placed a foil blanket around her shoulders.
‘Thanks,’ Lizzie said, teeth chattering.
The cobbles were slippery beneath her feet as they climbed back up to the main road, a rat slinking across their path and away behind the overflowing wheelie bins. Predictably there were paparazzi outside the flat. Flashbulbs went off, all the more so when the photographers saw she was being escorted by the police. It was starting to feel ridiculously like a premiere, except that Lizzie suspected she looked far from red carpet ready.
The foyer of the flats felt too bright. Lizzie blinked, disoriented all over again. What time was it? How long had it been since she and Johnny had gone out? She wanted to ask Jason but there was no way she was going to do that in front of the police.
‘Ms Kingdom—’ The paramedic was touching her arm. He was tall, lanky and laidback with a strong Liverpudlian accent. ‘It really would be a good idea to check your blood pressure and a few other things just to make sure you’re OK.’ He glanced over his shoulder at the crowds outside. ‘I think mine would be sky high if I had to cope with that lot,’ he added with a grin.
‘Thanks,’ Lizzie said, ‘but I’m fine. I don’t want to waste any more