by Joanna Neil
Emily nodded vigorously. ‘My mummy been to work.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t go work…I go nursery. I been nursery today, and we maked gingerbread men.’ She waved a plastic box in the air. ‘Do you want one?’
‘Oh, I think that would be lovely. Yes, please. Do you know, they are my favourite things to eat? Ben’s, too, next to flapjacks.’
Emily’s smile was as wide as could be and she eagerly followed Ben’s mother as she led the way along the hall.
‘If we’re to have gingerbread men,’ the woman told Emily, ‘I’d better put the kettle on. We’ll have a cup of tea.’
Sarah noticed that her breathing was laboured, and Ben must have seen it, too, because he said, ‘You should go and sit yourself down. I’ll make the tea, and then you can tell me what the GP had to say.’
‘You worry too much. I’m fine. He told me to keep taking the tablets and get plenty of rest.’ She showed them into a light, comfortably furnished room that had French doors to one side, opening out onto a small garden.
‘I hope you don’t mind us dropping in on you this way,’ Sarah said. ‘Ben was keen to make sure that you were all right. He said you’ve been quite ill lately.’
‘I think I’m over the worst,’ his mother said. ‘They gave me antibiotics, and I have tablets to take away the pain when I breathe.’ She paused to drag air into her lungs. ‘My neighbours have been really good to me, and Ben has dropped by every day to make sure that I was resting. I feel bad about that, because I know he has such a difficult job to do.’
‘I think you’re more important to him than his job,’ Sarah commented. ‘He was concerned that you weren’t being treated in hospital.’
‘I wouldn’t have liked that.’
She would have said more, but Emily suddenly blurted out, ‘What’s your name?’
‘I’m Jennifer,’ Ben’s mother told her. ‘And you must be Emily.’
‘How do you know that?’ Emily stared at her, open-mouthed. ‘How do you know my name?’
Jennifer sat down in a chintz-covered armchair and pointed out a matching settee to Sarah. ‘Well, you see…Ben told me all about you and your mother. He said that you’d come to live next door to him. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.’
Ben came into the room and began to set down a tray of cups and saucers on a table by the far wall. ‘I brought biscuits and cakes, just in case there aren’t enough gingerbread men to go round.’
Emily sat down on the settee beside Sarah and began to swing her legs to and fro. She was gazing intently at Jennifer, watching her every movement. ‘I thought you was my nana,’ she told the older woman. ‘I haven’t seed my nana and grandad for—’ she spread her arms wide ‘—ages and ages.’
‘Oh, dear, haven’t you? That’s a shame. Perhaps they’ve gone away somewhere.’
Sarah’s jaw dropped as soon as she heard Emily’s words, and she drew a painful intake of breath as her throat constricted with warring emotions. As far as she could recall, this was the first time that the child had mentioned any grandparents. It was like receiving a blow to her stomach, and for a moment or two she bent forward a little, trying to hide her reaction.
Emily nodded, obviously mulling over the idea that the grandparents might have gone away, and before she had time to ask any more questions, Jennifer said in a thoughtful voice, ‘Do you know, I think I have some little dollies in my workbox. I was making them for a craft fair, but you could play with them if you like.’
‘Yes, please,’ Emily answered, her tone eager.
‘I’ll get them,’ Ben said. Sarah felt his glance run over her, and there was a hint of concern in his eyes. A moment or two later Jennifer came and sat down beside her, laying a hand gently on her arm. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes.’ Sarah straightened up. ‘It was nothing. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was just a bit of a shock hearing her talk about her nana and grandad. I didn’t even know that she called them by those names. She hardly ever talks about the past, and I’m not sure whether that’s because she doesn’t remember or because she can’t express what she’s feeling.’ She could see that Emily was happily playing across the room, investigating the lovely outfits that Jennifer had made for the dolls.
‘Ben told me that you had lost your memory,’ Jennifer said softly. ‘Have you never talked to Emily about her grandparents?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘I was afraid that it would upset her. She was in such a state after seeing what happened to me, and we all had to be so careful in what we said to her for fear of making her more stressed. She never mentioned them, and I don’t know where they are, or who they are, so I thought it best to say nothing. I suppose I thought that they might have tried to get in touch with me, if only for Emily’s sake.’
Ben came to join them, taking a seat beside Sarah on the settee. ‘I could see how upset you were just then, when she talked about them, but just because you haven’t heard from them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they haven’t tried to contact you.’
‘Then again, it’s possible that something happened to them.’ Sarah’s mouth wavered. ‘Or perhaps there was a family argument. The trouble is, I don’t know anything.’ She swallowed hard. ‘Sometimes I have pictures in my mind, of family life, a big house and a wide driveway, but then it fades and I’m none the wiser. I don’t even know if there are one…’ Her voice broke. ‘Or two sets of grandparents.’
‘I can see how that would worry you. It must be so frustrating for you.’ Jennifer paused. ‘What about Emily’s father?’ she asked. ‘Do you know whether you were married, or perhaps there was a divorce? Does Emily never mention him?’
‘I don’t…I don’t even recall having a child, let alone being married,’ Sarah said awkwardly, her voice faltering, ‘and Emily has hardly ever talked about her father. It’s been difficult to know how to approach the subject with her. She was so shocked by witnessing the attack on me that she clammed up for ages, and we were always afraid of pushing her too far.’ She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. ‘As to whether I was married or divorced, I can’t say. When the police found me, they said that there were scratches on my hands. They thought I might have put up a fight against my attacker, and that it was possible I was wearing a ring but that it was stolen.’ Her eyes were suddenly blurred by a bright sheen of tears. ‘There’s no way of knowing.’
Ben put an arm around her, drawing her close to him, as though he would do anything he could to take away her pain. It must have been a purely instinctive action on his part, but it was enough to let her know that he understood what she was going through and that he was concerned enough to want to help her.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. ‘This must be really upsetting for you. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to lose your identity and everything that goes along with it, but you don’t have to bear this on your own, you know. We’ll do whatever we can to see you through it.’
For a moment or two Sarah gave in to the wonderful feeling of comfort that his nearness evoked. His head rested against hers, and she absorbed the warmth that came from being near him. His arms were strong and capable, and she was sure that he meant what he’d said, and that he would lift any burden from her, given the chance.
Only she couldn’t let him do that, could she? He was a neighbour, a new-found friend, a colleague, but he had his own life to lead. No one could bring her family back to her and, when all was said and done, this was her problem.
After a while she began to straighten up. This was something she had to get through on her own. Her life was a mystery, and until the puzzle was solved she had to simply muddle through as best she could.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘I MUST be crazy to even think of doing this.’ Sarah gazed about her at the rugged landscape, a faint breeze riffling through her hair. In the distance, a river had carved a deep, narrow valley through the grassy plateau, only to disappear underground, following a subterranean course. All around, cr
aggy rocks were exposed, glimpsed through a scattering of woodland. ‘I can’t begin to know why I let you persuade me to come along with you on this search-and-rescue mission. I don’t even like caves.’
‘How do you know you don’t like them?’ Ben looked at her askance. ‘You told me you didn’t know whether you’d ever been down a cave before.’
‘Well, I can’t think why anyone would want to let themselves down into the depths of the earth. And I have no idea why Carol was so intent on agreeing with you that this would be a good experience for me. One minute she’s telling me that I might not be able to cope on my own with something like moving house, and now she’s suggesting that all these new kinds of activities are a wonderful thing.’ She glared at him. ‘This is all your influence.’
He began to chuckle. ‘I seem to have been getting the blame for a lot of what goes on just lately.’
Her glower deepened. ‘And are you saying that it isn’t your fault?’
‘I just happened to mention that trying out lots of new things might be good for you—it might stimulate some part of your memory, and in the end that can only be good, surely?’
Her eyes narrowed, a warning glint sparking to life in them. ‘I can’t imagine what makes you think that my putting on an oversuit and a helmet and allowing myself to be lowered down into a hole in the rock is going to stimulate any part of my memory, except for the part that tells me this is madness and to get away fast.’
A faint dimple of amusement indented his cheek. ‘You forgot to mention the headlamp,’ he pointed out.
‘Oh, yes, and the fact that it’s going to be pitch black down there.’ Her face set in an expression of bewildered annoyance. ‘What on earth was I thinking?’
‘The fact is,’ he said in a soothing tone, ‘you decided to come along because the paramedics are on hand in this operation and you have your report to write. And you thought that you would be helping someone. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about you, it’s that you’re always willing to put yourself out for other people—and the thought of more youngsters being trapped in a cave system was enough to spur you on.’
‘Maybe so, but the search-and-rescue team weren’t so keen on the idea, were they?’
‘They were fine about it once they’d been reassured that I would be responsible for you, and that you were kitted out properly, and knew the basic safety procedures.’
Sarah made a huffing noise, part way between dismissing the notion that she could ever have been persuaded to be so foolish as to do this and in just a small way allowing that she couldn’t in all conscience not do it.
‘If I were their parents, I’d want to know that they were only going down there under the supervision of an experienced caver.’
‘Maybe so, but you can’t govern the actions of young people. The earth is here to be explored, and they have the enthusiasm and the energy to do it.’
‘That’s why we’re here now,’ she said bluntly. ‘Because they had a great idea, but they appear to have come unstuck.’
‘Or stuck, as the case may be.’ Ben made a wry smile. ‘Some of the tunnels in these caverns can be tight, to say the least, but at any rate one of the boys managed to find his way out and was able to fetch help.’
She threw him another withering glance. ‘If we’re going to do this, let’s get on with it, shall we? Before I change my mind?’
The rescue team began the descent into the cave via a wide fissure in the rock, and Sarah was relieved to find that there were plenty of footholds to help her on the way. Easing herself down into a wide cavern, she finally felt solid rock beneath her feet. From there the team followed a low tunnel where they had to dip their heads to avoid the roof.
The air was dank, and already she could feel the chill of a place that had been hidden from sunlight for aeons. ‘How many boys are down here altogether?’ she asked.
‘There are three of them. According to the lad who made it to the surface, one of them had a fall, and another one was too exhausted to go on. One of the younger boys is lost in a tunnel somewhere.’
Ben shone his torch around, illuminating the rock walls and highlighting the deposits of calcite that glittered like ice all the way along the passage. Further on, there were splashes of colour on the rocks, blue-grey manganese and the orange of iron oxide. ‘It’s easy to see from all these different fissures how easy it would be to lose your way if you didn’t know the caves.’
Sarah nodded. She paused to gaze for a moment at the domed ceiling of the cavern they had entered, and then marvelled at the crystalline splendour of the rock formations. It was like walking into a vast hall, with nooks and crannies all around and barely hidden openings in the limestone that hinted at hidden treasures further on begging to be explored.
‘It’s a good thing that you seem to know where you’re going.’ They moved through several of these tunnels for some fifteen minutes, until members of the cave rescue team who were up ahead of them signalled that they had come across the injured teenagers.
Sarah picked her way carefully over loose rubble, wet from a thin stream of water trickling down from somewhere above her head, and entered what turned out to be a huge chamber. At the far end of the cavern she could see a boy sitting on the rock floor, leaning against the magnificent column of a stalagmite, formed over centuries out of mineral deposits from the steady drip of water through the roof of the cavern.
He was clutching his injured foot. Next to him was a younger boy, who appeared to be in a dazed condition. A trickle of blood ran down his temple.
Ben went to the boy with the head injury first of all and set about checking his reflexes. The boy didn’t appear to be responding too well to Ben’s questions, and Sarah was im mediately concerned.
‘Is he going to be all right?’ she asked in a low voice.
Ben nodded. ‘He appears to be suffering from concussion. We’ll get him to hospital and keep him under observation. I don’t think the fall did any great damage to his head, but we’ll send him for an X-ray, to be on the safe side.’
Another member of the rescue team was attending to the second boy. ‘I thought I might be able to get myself out of here at a push, if help didn’t come,’ the youngster said in an anxious tone, ‘but I didn’t want to leave Matthew and Taylor on their own. Besides, I wasn’t sure how much further I would be able to go because of the pain.’
‘You did right to stay here, Kieran,’ his rescuer told him. ‘The ankle is quite swollen, and it’s better that you rested it. It’s probably just a bad sprain, but we’ll know more after the doctor has checked you out at the hospital. In the meantime, we’ll wrap a support bandage around the ankle and put it in a splint to protect it from any further damage.’
‘Have they found Taylor yet?’ Kieran wanted to know. ‘He went off to see if he could find a quicker way out of here, but he never came back. We heard him shouting, and we tried to call back, but after a while he went quiet.’
‘The men have gone to look for him,’ Ben said, glancing around. ‘They’ll let us know as soon as they find him.’
He went to help his colleague to splint the boy’s ankle, while Sarah stayed with the youth who was concussed and feeling sick. She spoke gently to him, wiping his brow with a cool, damp cloth and reassuring him that he was going to be all right and that soon they would have him out of there. A few minutes later two of the rescue team members came back to the cavern.
‘We’ve found the boy wedged in a fissure in the rock up ahead,’ he said. ‘They’re putting a harness around him to make sure that we have him safe, and then we’ll have to chisel away some of the rock so that we can ease him out of there. He’s lucky that he didn’t fall down one of the main shafts.’
‘Is he injured in any way?’ Ben asked.
‘Just some soreness in his leg where it was grazed by the rock, and general exhaustion, but otherwise I think he’ll be fine. He’s not complaining of problems anywhere else.’
‘That’s good. Maybe we sh
ould start getting Matthew and Kieran out of here. We can send them off to hospital in the first ambulance.’
The other men agreed, and between them they carefully slid the boys onto stretchers and began to retrace their steps to the mouth of the cave system. Kieran was worried about leaving his friend behind, but Sarah said softly, ‘He’s being well looked after. The men with him know all about taking care of people who are trapped in the caves, and they won’t leave him. It might take a while, but they’ll bring him out safely.’
When they arrived at the point where they had lowered themselves into the cave system, she stared up at the crooked sides of the pothole. ‘How are we going to get them up out of the fissure?’ she murmured, glancing at Ben.
‘Two of us will have to go up to the surface and drop down the lifting tackle. Then the other two will make sure that the clasps are fitted securely to the stretcher harness and help lift the boys up, one at a time. It could be quite a slow process.’
Sarah frowned. ‘Do you always manage to save the people you come to find?’ she asked in a low voice.
He nodded. ‘We haven’t failed yet.’ He gave her a quick smile. ‘You know, you’ve done really well today—you seemed to have coped with all the climbing and negotiating the more tricky parts of the tunnels. How do you feel about being down here?’
Her mouth tipped into a crooked grin. ‘Do you know, I think I’ve actually enjoyed it…once I knew that the boys were not seriously hurt. After that I began to relax a bit, and to be honest I think the caves are quite beautiful in an eerie sort of way.’
He laughed. ‘That’s my girl. I knew that tirade was all steam and hot air when we first set out. I didn’t think you would be able to stay mad at me for long.’
By now they were busy organising the stretchers, getting them ready for transfer to the surface. Matthew was the first to be taken up through the narrow passageway, and once he was safely at the surface, Ben came down to retrieve Kieran.