Page 95 of One Step Behind

‘No one has signed it,’ I say.

Vanessa twists the notebook back towards her and pops her glasses on her nose before peering once more at the words. ‘Yes, but their names are here and Mrs Patel told me they left.’

‘Would I be here right now if I’d already collected them? More to the point, who did sign them out?’ The first fluttering of panic dances in my stomach. Where are my children? I think of you no longer atthe hospital. How far could you get? What are you capable of?

‘I don’t know. I was helping Mrs Lark with a toilet accident. Sharon – I mean Mrs Patel – must have overseen the sign-out.’

‘Where is she?’

‘She just left.’

Vanessa sits back as though the matter could possibly be closed, as though I’ll shrug my shoulders and walk away and not care where my children are or why someone other than me collected them. I have a sudden desire to reach my hands through the window and shake her until she sees that these are my children she’s talking about, who are supposed to be in school; they’re supposed to be safe, and they’re not.

‘I’m not sure what to do,’ she says, her voice quivering.

I swallow the feeling down like a bitter pill. ‘OK. I’m going to call their dad and our childminder. Please call Mrs Patel and find out who collected my children.’

Stuart is the last person I want to talk to right now but he is still Beth and Archie’s dad.

‘Stuart,’ I say the moment he answers.

‘Oh Jenna. Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you to come home. We need to talk. There is so much I need to say. I’ve been writing it down. Can you come home?’ he asks.

‘Have you collected the children?’

‘No. I’ve been at home all day. What’s going on?’

‘I’m at the school,’ I tell him, the fever of panic creeping into my voice. ‘But the kids aren’t here. Someone else has already collected them for their dentist appointment.’

‘Have you called Christie?’

‘I’m calling her next. But I can’t see why she’d have taken them.’

‘Maybe you arranged it with her ages ago and forgot.’

There’s a pounding in my ears, a how-dare-he-say-that-to-me? thought. ‘No, Stuart. I didn’t forget. I spoke to Christie this morning when she told me about your affair and I told her I was collecting them today.’

‘All right. I’m sorry. Let me know, OK?’

‘Sure,’ I reply, already hanging up.

I find Christie’s number and my fingers fumble with the touch screen so it takes twice as long as it should. It rings and rings but Christie doesn’t answer. I hang up, aware of Vanessa placing the office phone back into its receiver.

‘What did she say?’ I ask.

‘It’s all sorted. Panic over,’ she says with a clap of her hands and an I-told-you-so look on her face. ‘Rachel Finley collected them. She said you’d been held up at work again and asked her to take them to the dentist for you.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘She said you did.’

‘And I’m standing here telling you that I didn’t.’ My voice is growing louder by the second. ‘Why didn’t Mrs Patel call me to check?’