The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,122

Word had soon spread around the local area and everyone had taken to the streets to find Josie Doyle.

And they would find her. Dora wouldn’t allow herself to think anything different. Although the image of Josie’s red coat floating in the dark water of the canal still haunted her.

How many times had she stood on that canal bank and thought about ending it all herself, when she didn’t think she could stand another day of Alf’s abuse? She only prayed Josie hadn’t got that desperate yet.

But it became harder and harder to stay optimistic as the hours went by and the dark streets began to empty. By midnight, even the most intrepid searchers were heading home to snatch a few hours’ sleep before going out again at dawn.

Except one. Down on the waste ground behind the railway line, Dora spotted a solitary figure emerging from one of the disused railway sheds, silhouetted in the moonlight.

‘Nick?’ She called out to him and he came to her, picking his way over the rubbish-strewn ground.

‘What are you doing here? Why aren’t you back at the hospital—’ The silvery moonlight caught the look of panic in his face. ‘Josie’s not . . .?’

Dora shook her head. ‘She’s not been found yet. But I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Not while our Josie’s out there on her own—’ she broke off, her voice catching.

‘I thought she might be hiding out down here.’ She was grateful that Nick pretended not to notice her trembling lip. ‘It’s where I always used to come when I wanted to get away from my old man.’

Dora looked up at his haggard face, etched with exhaustion. ‘You must be dead on your feet,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you pack up and go home with the others?’

‘I promised you I’d find her, didn’t I?’

His eyes met hers in the moonlight. For a moment neither of them spoke. Somewhere in the distance, a train rumbled past, making the ground tremble beneath their feet.

‘We’ll look together.’ She pulled away from him, breaking the spell.

Even Millie’s torch was no match for the darkness as the moon became shrouded in cloud. Dora tripped and stumbled over the uneven ground, and Nick put out a hand to steady her. After a while it was easier for her to go on holding on to his arm. His presence beside her made her feel safe.

But knowing that her sister had no one to hold on to made her feel even worse.

‘She’ll be so frightened.’ She spoke her thoughts aloud. ‘She never liked the dark. I used to tease her all the time about ghosts and bogey men who wandered around the streets after dark, lying in wait for kids . . .’ She put her hand over her mouth to stifle her sob of despair.

‘Shh.’ Nick’s arm came around her shoulders, pulling her into the reassuring, solid warmth of his body. As she leaned against him she could feel the steady beat of his heart against her cheek. ‘You’re tired, you should go home.’

‘I’m not going anywhere until we find Josie.’

She felt the rise and fall of his chest as he let out a sigh. ‘At least let me walk you back to Griffin Street,’ he said. ‘You never know, there might be some news.’

There was. As they turned the corner, Dora recognised the black bicycle leaning up against the wall outside their house.

‘The police are here!’ She pulled away from Nick and started to run, tripping and stumbling over the cobbles in the darkness.

They all turned to face her as she crashed into the kitchen. Including the policeman who stood in the centre of the room, towering over everyone in his helmet, his short dark cape thrown around his shoulders.

But there was no sign of her sister.

All the terror and anxiety she’d been holding back crashed over her like a great tidal wave. She felt her legs buckle and would have sunk to the ground if Nick hadn’t been there to hold her up.

Her mother came forward, tears shining in her eyes. ‘It’s all right,’ she whispered, hugging Dora. ‘They’ve found her. She’s safe.’

‘But I don’t understand. Where is she . . .?’

‘She’s ended up at your Auntie Brenda’s,’ her mum explained. ‘Can you believe she walked all the way to Loughton?’

‘And now the cheeky little so-and-so is putting her foot down and says she won’t come home.’ Nanna Winnie folded her arms across her chest. ‘If that don’t beat everything, after what she’s put us