Dom’s waiting for me in the hall. ‘What’s wrong with Zan?’ I snap at him. ‘Tell me quickly. Is she hurt?’ She’s supposed to be with Murad at a revision session at school. History.
‘What? No, nothing like that,’ says Dom. ‘Physically she’s fine.’
Thank God.‘Then what?’
‘She just rang and said can I send you to school immediately. I told her you were with Pam. She said, “This is more important than someone’s stiff back.”’
‘Important how?’
‘She refused to say. I tried, Beth.’
‘Did she sound upset?’Please, please, don’t let Murad have dumped her, not just before her GCSEs.
‘No. More angry.’
‘Oh, God. Just angry, though, not scared?’
‘It was hard to tell. Maybe a bit scared too, yeah.’
I’m finding it hard to breathe.Please let this not be too serious. ‘Why didn’t you make her tell you what’s wrong?’
‘You think I didn’t try? She wouldn’t tell me anything. She only said that it’s important and you need to go to school immediately and text her when you get there. Don’t go inside and ask for her – she stressed that quite a few times. Text Murad’s phone from the car park and she’ll come out and meet you. She wants you to hurry. Have you got his number?’
If she’s asking me to text Murad’s phone, they can’t have broken up. Unless she had his phone for some reason, found something on it that shouldn’t have been there, and is refusing to give it back. ‘Yeah, I’ve got his number. But Dom, I’ve got Pam—’
‘I know. Look, don’t blame me. I offered to go instead, and got a firm no. Oh, and Zannah wants you there by eleven. Ideally before.’
I look at the clock on the wall above Dom’s head. ‘I can easily do it. It’s only ten past ten and it’s a fifteen-minute drive. What about Pam, though?’
‘She’ll understand – it’s a family emergency.’
He’s right. Back in the treatment room, I explain the situation to Pam, who’s very reasonable about it. ‘Of course you must go,’ she says, buttoning up her flower-print blouse. ‘And try not to worry. Everything seems ever so serious when you’re that age. It’s probably just boyfriend trouble.’
That’s what I’m worried about. Zannah feels things deeply. Her love for Murad isn’t a passing fad. If he’s done something like cheat on her and she’s just found out, I’ll be lucky if I can stop her smashing his head in with the nearest heavy object. Maybe she has already. Dom said she was fine physically, but maybe Murad isn’t. No, a teacher would have rung if there had been an injury, surely …
‘Beth.’ Pam puts her hand on my arm. ‘Zannah is fine. If it was really serious, she’d have told Dominic what had happened, wouldn’t she?’
I hadn’t thought of this and it makes me feel slightly better. ‘Yes. If it was life or death, she’d have told Dom.’
But if it wasn’t, she wouldn’t interrupt you when she knows you’ve got clients all day that you let down last week and are trying to make it up to.
‘Unless she’s pregnant,’ Pam announces cheerily. ‘She’d prefer to tell Mum than Dad that sort of news, I imagine.’
Yes, she would. Oh, God. ‘Thanks for that,’ I try to smile. Zan and Murad have already thought of a name for their first baby: Truelove. Is this the news I’m about to receive – that Truelove Rasheed-Leeson is already on the way? Zannah knows how not to get pregnant; she and I have discussed it many times.
But GCSEs are coming up. And she’d do anything to avoid them. And she hasn’t revised.
No. I shake the idea from my mind. She wouldn’t – neither accidentally nor deliberately. Not my Zan, who’s wise beyond her years.
‘Stop imagining worst-case scenarios and go,’ says Pam. ‘You don’t need to wait for me. It’ll take me a while to put my jewellery back on. Dominic’ll see me out, I’m sure.’
‘Thank you, Pam. I’ll make this up to you – free massages for life, at this rate.’
I grab my car keys and head for Bankside Park.
16
I follow Zannah’s instructions: park in the visitor car park, text Murad’s phone to say I’ve arrived. Immediately, three dots appear on the screen beneath my message. She’s typing. Or he is.
