Page 92 of Friend of the Family

Amy was just reassuring Gerard Harper, star of the West End, that the train would still arrive on time when she saw David in the doorway beckoning to her.

His face was set and serious. ‘Look, I’ve just spoken to the driver – for real, this time. There was an abandoned car on a level crossing; he only just spotted it in time.’

‘You’re kidding?’

David shook his head. ‘Can you imagine if we’d hit it? The whole train would have derailed for sure.’

Amy shivered just thinking about the tragedy that had been narrowly averted.

‘So can we get moving now?’

David shook his head. ‘Procedures. Apparently they have to wait for the police to make an assessment as to whether it’s safe to proceed.’

‘How long?’

‘How long’s a piece of string?’

Amy ducked down to peer out of the window. It was dark, no houses or buildings anywhere near – certainly no stations close enough to unload their precious cargo.

‘Is anyone hurt?’

‘I think everyone’s okay,’ said David. ‘Shaken up, but nothing beyond a few bruises – apart from one woman who was in the bathroom at the time and hit her head pretty hard. I think you’d better come and see.’

She followed him down through two carriages, stopping briefly to check on guests with the odd word of sympathy and encouragement, to where a uniformed guard was sitting with an elderly lady she immediately recognised as Louisa Bourne, grande dame of the fashion world.

‘I seem to have had a bump,’ she said, holding a wet towel to her head. ‘Sorry to be such a bore.’

‘No, no, I just want to make sure you’re all right.’

‘I’ve already asked someone to bring me a glass of bubbly, if it hasn’t all been too shaken up.’ She gave a whisper of a smile and then lolled back on her seat, her eyes rolling back into her head.

‘Louisa?’ said Amy urgently.

The woman didn’t respond, and Amy touched her cheek to try and get a reaction. She had no medical training but she could tell that Louisa’s head wound was serious, blood already beginning to congeal around a wide gash in her scalp.

‘David,’ she shouted, knowing that she needed help.

Her husband came running.

‘I think she’s fainted.’

They both knew it was more serious than that.

‘We need a doctor,’ Amy said. ‘We need to get her to hospital.’

‘But we’re in the middle of nowhere.’

‘A level crossing means a road.’ Amy was trying to think. ‘Which means an ambulance can get to us.’

David came round behind Louisa to prop her up while Amy felt her pulse. It throbbed underneath her fingertips but the old lady’s eyes were still closed.

As David pulled his mobile out of his pocket to call for help, Amy moved back through the train. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, laughter and jabbering voices coming from all directions: a holiday atmosphere was prevailing for now at least. That was something.

She found Janice and Juliet deep in conversation.

‘Ladies, thank God I’ve got you both.’ She filled them in on the situation and the need to get Louisa to hospital.

‘You must go with her,’ said Juliet immediately. ‘We’re more than capable of keeping people happy until the train’s moving again.’