Nightshade

54

Tina walked into the kitchen as Sandra was pouring hot water into two mugs. Sandra looked up and forced a smile. ‘Milk and sugar?’ she asked.

‘We both take it with milk and no sugar,’ said Tina. She folded her arms and leaned against the door frame as Sandra opened the fridge and took out a bottle of milk. ‘She’s a very special little girl, Bella.’

Sandra nodded. ‘She’s our angel,’ she said.

‘She’s very bright. For her age.’

‘Really? You think so?’

Tina nodded. ‘She seems to know a lot about Jehovah’s Witnesses.’

Sandra looked up from the mugs. ‘Are you sure?’

‘She knew about Charles Taze Russell.’

‘Who?’

‘Exactly,’ said Tina. ‘His name isn’t generally known by outsiders.’

Sandra shrugged. ‘She must have seen it on TV. She’s been watching a lot of strange stuff on TV recently.’ She poured milk into the two mugs and stirred.

‘Or at school perhaps?’

‘She hasn’t been to school for a while. Not since …’ She left the sentence unfinished.

‘Since what?’

Sandra looked pained. ‘Bella was attacked. She was hurt quite badly. She’s only just out of hospital.’

‘Oh my goodness, Bella Harper!’ said Tina, putting her hands over her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry, you should have said. Oh my goodness.’

‘It’s okay. She’s fine now. She’ll probably be back at school next week.’

‘Oh, the poor thing. It said in the papers that she’d been …’ She saw the look of horror flash across Sandra’s face and she immediately began apologising.

‘It’s okay,’ said Sandra, handing her one of the mugs of tea. ‘Like I said, she’s okay. It was her idea to invite you in. She wanted to talk to you.’

‘A belief in God can help you through difficult times.’

Sandra nodded. ‘She said an angel helped take care of her.’

‘That could be true,’ said Tina. ‘God loves children more than anything. Why wouldn’t he use his angels to protect a child?’

‘If that was the case, he was a bit late,’ said Sandra. ‘He should have sent an angel to keep the monsters away from her in the first place.’

‘You’re angry,’ said Tina quietly.

Sandra’s eyes flashed. ‘Of course I’m angry. Why would I not be angry?’

‘You got your daughter back. For that alone you should be thanking God. So many missing children never come back.’

Sandra forced a smile. ‘I suppose so.’

‘And she is such a lovely girl. A treasure.’

Sandra took the mug of tea into the sitting room. David was on his hands and knees, gathering up the pamphlets, while Bella stared at the television. ‘Your tea,’ said Sandra.

David scooped the pamphlets into his briefcase then locked it and got to his feet. ‘We should go,’ he said to Tina.

‘Our tea,’ said Tina, holding up her mug, but David was already walking out of the room.

‘Bella, is everything okay?’ asked Sandra.

‘Everything’s fine,’ said Bella, her eyes on the television. She’d changed the cartoon back to the Holocaust documentary.

‘I’m sorry. I’m not sure what’s wrong with David,’ said Tina. She handed her unfinished tea to Sandra, picked up her briefcase and hurried after David. She caught up with him down the street, heading for his car. ‘David, what’s wrong?’ she asked as she fell into step with him. He ignored her. He took his car keys from his raincoat pocket and unlocked the door of his Toyota, tossed the briefcase onto the back seat and climbed in. Tina hurried around to the passenger side. ‘David, what happened? What’s wrong?’ She got in and pulled the door shut. David had already started the engine.

Tina fastened her seat belt as David pulled away from the curb.

She tried to get him to speak several times but he ignored her. The seat belt warning beeper was going but David ignored that, too.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked. ‘We were supposed to be doing calls until nine.’

As he turned onto the dual carriageway she realised that they were heading to London. She took out her mobile phone but she had no idea who to call. She was starting to get seriously concerned. David was usually talkative and she’d never seen him like this. There was a blankness in his eyes, as if his mind was elsewhere.

‘David, please, you’re scaring me. Just tell me what’s wrong.’

David said nothing. He accelerated and the speedometer moved past forty to fifty and then sixty miles an hour. Something flashed and Tina realised that they’d driven past a speed camera.

‘David, come on now. Slow down.’

David never drove over the speed limit. He was one of the most careful drivers that Tina had ever come across, and he was proud of the fact that he had a totally clean driving licence.

‘And you should put your seat belt on. Isn’t that noise driving you crazy?’

‘You know that God loves you, Tina?’

‘What? Of course.’

The speedometer reached seventy miles an hour and David twisted the steering wheel to the right. Tina screamed as she saw the petrol tanker heading directly towards them. She threw up her hands and closed her eyes and then the car slammed into the tanker and burst into flames. She was already dead by the time the petrol tanker exploded, killing another five people and injuring dozens more.