Bill is engrossed at something on his phone behind Lizzie and suddenly lets out a shriek. ‘Rory is on the news.’
‘What?’ Both Felix and I gasp.
Bill shoves his phone in front of Lizzie. I watch her mouth fall open in shock.
‘Tell us, please,’ pleads Felix.
Lizzie looks up with wide eyes and an odd trance-like expression. Bill talks for her. ‘You know a couple found that missing boy on a train this morning?’
I nod.
‘Well, he’s the bloke. Check out his new girlfriend.’ Bill snatches the phone away from Lizzie and holds it up at the camera. There on the BBC online news page is a video of Rory and a woman with short, black hair talking to the camera about how they found the missing boy.
Before I have a chance to watch the video the train manager informs the passengers that we are arriving at London King’s Cross.
CHAPTER43
RORY
‘We’re NOT a couple,’ I snap at the journalist, who is talking fast to someone on his mobile phone about his possible story of the year. When I bought the train ticket, I didn’t realise I would be sitting in front of a career hungry and determined young journalist.
The journalist bats my hand away. ‘Picture this, Graham. It’s Christmas Eve and across the United Kingdom people have been anxiously sat on the edge of their sofa waiting for news on the whereabouts of the missing young boy. Everyone will sit down tonight to wrap presents and at the same time watch the news where I interview the couple, who were on their way to a romantic date in London, about how they found the missing boy on Christmas Eve, alone and scared on a train. Once I have talked to them, I will then interview the parents and the boy. Viewers will want to hear how he’d slept in a bus stop overnight and a homeless man lent him his sleeping bag. It will be heartfelt and magical.’
The woman opposite me growls at the journalist.
‘I’ll ask them… hang on.’ He grins at both of us. ‘Can I count you both in for the interview?’
Before I have time to tell the journalist that I don’t want to take part in an interview, Jack’s sobs fill the carriage. He’s talking to a police officer who boarded the train at Gatwick a few seats up towards the carriage door. ‘I don’t want to go without Rory,’ Jack wails before pushing past the police officer and charging down the aisle to where I am sat.
‘Please stay with me, Rory,’ sobs Jack, standing before me by the window seat table. ‘I don’t want to go with them.’ He points to the Transport Police stood in the train carriage door. Rubbing my face, I close my eyes and wish Emily and Felix had been in Brighton when I knocked on Vivi’s door. As Felix wasn’t the missing boy, I am still not closer to finding them both. They’ve obviously stayed over in London after enjoying the sights. The memory of the emotional male voice answering Emily’s phone comes back to me. Who the hell was that? Maybe she has got a boyfriend? A wave of sadness rises inside me. I’m too late. They must have met up with her boyfriend in London.
I take Jack’s hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
The journalist ends his call. He gets up and lets Jack sit next to me. ‘This is going to make such a good interview.’
Irritation and frustration at the journalist join forces inside of me. I don’t want to take part in his interview and if he refers to me and the woman opposite me being part of a couple again, I will struggle not to lamp him.
A female police officer strides down the aisle and hands Jack a phone. ‘It’s your mum on the phone.’
Jack shakes his head and bats the phone away.
I lean over and take the phone from the police officer. ‘Jack, come on and talk to your mum. She’s been very worried about you.’
He hides his tear-stained face in my arm. ‘She’ll tell me off for running away and causing all this mess.’
I let out a heavy sigh. ‘Yes, Jack, she will probably shout but she’ll also be terribly upset. Come on, be a good lad and talk to her.’
The journalist has taken out his phone and is busy tapping away into it. ‘Just making some notes.’ He looks up and smiles at the woman still sat opposite us. ‘Your boyfriend is such a hero.’
I made the decision to follow Jack and the two Transport Police officers to London Bridge station and watch him reunite with his parents.
Jack is in the middle of a tearful group of his relatives and friends who are all over the moon to have him back safe and well. He’s currently being kissed, hugged, and cried over. It’s a great sight to see and I’m so relieved he’s back with his family. The look on his face when I told him I would accompany him to London Bridge to see his mum and dad was priceless and something I will always treasure. Everyone has thanked me for talking to Jack and I even got a tearful hug from his father.
London Bridge is busy and is buzzing with commuters and Christmas shoppers. Out of the corner of my eye I can see a couple, who have clearly been separated until Christmas and are reuniting, running into each other’s arms. My heart aches as I would give anything to spot Emily and Felix alighting from the underground and I picture myself running towards them, arms outstretched, with a goofy happy smile plastered across my face.
I am stood with the woman who was sat opposite me and alerted the police about Jack. Her arms are folded tightly across her chest and her lips are clamped shut. I’m sensing she doesn’t want to be interviewed either. The journalist is busy chatting to a sweaty-faced camera man who has just turned up. I don’t want to be here much longer. There’s no point in returning to Brighton as Emily is probably enjoying herself in London with Felix and the man who answered her phone. Stuffing my hands into my pockets I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet. My fingertips find the gold locket and disappointment overwhelms me. Damn – I forgot to post her locket through her door. I have come all this way to deliver the locket and now it’s still in my pocket.
‘Right,’ says the journalist, ‘let’s get this interview started.’
