“I covered the disaster in Japan in 2011, and the damage looks comparable to that.” She shivered as she remembered how the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in that country caused a tsunami that had led to a nuclear disaster. Mostly, she remembered the shocked and frozen faces of strangers. Snowfall had accompanied the tsunami, and the freezing temperatures had hindered the rescue operation. It’d been so damn cold and wet.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please switch any mobile devices to airplane mode and ensure your seat tables are in an upright position,” said an airline cabin crew member over the tannoy.
Reluctantly, Mattie complied. The flight was three and a half hours, so she’d have to wait before she could check her phone again. Had Nell listened to the voicemail yet? If so, how was she feeling? She couldn’t bear to imagine the disappointment in those beautiful eyes of hers. Or the hurt on her face, the slump of her proud shoulders. All their plans ruined. Breakfast in bed on Christmas morning, superb food, a stroll along the coast. Boxing Day lunch with Angie and family. She rubbed her face, but it did nothing to stop an unexpected wave of nausea.
“You okay?” Moeen asked.
“I’m fine, like I already said.” Mattie tried to take the sting out of her words. It wasn’t Moeen’s fault she’d potentially blown her relationship with Nell. “Where are we staying?”
“It looks like our hotel accommodation is a fair distance away from the epicentre. The initial team have been doing a mix of using that and sleeping in the van they’ve hired.”
Mattie ran her eyes over the rest of Ed’s email. She and Moeen were the follow-up team rotating with the reporter and cameraman who were part of the initial response one. That meant an infrastructure was already in place: temporary accommodation, a van for transportation, batteries and satellite phones in case they lost power, bottled water and basic food supplies that didn’t need refrigerating. They’d also hired a local freelancer who knew the area and spoke English. Mattie absorbed it all. She needed to watch everything that’d already been broadcast onWorldwide Newsand catch up on written dispatches too.
With a start, she realised they were already airborne and she was travelling to Turkey instead of the UK.Will Nell forgive me? Or will she want out?Mattie pressed her fingers against her temples.
“Here, drink this.” Moeen thrust a bottle of water into her hand. “You clearly need it.”
She sighed deeply as she unscrewed the lid. How high was the price going to be for choosing the job over Nell? Too high?Work comes first, work comes first. Tears pricked her eyes, and she shut them, not wanting to cry in front of Moeen. She needed to focus on the job at hand. Her brief was to cover the growing humanitarian crisis.So damn well do it.
With a monumental effort, she concentrated on listening, and reading, and absorbing. Her brain raced from idea to idea, sketching out possible angles for stories. This was what she was good at. This was who she was.
By the time the plane landed, Mattie had amassed a wealth of information and understanding. Turkey experienced frequent earthquakes because it sat at the crossroads of three major tectonic plates, and the people of its largest city, Istanbul, had long feared the advent of a monster one. Their fears were amped up frequently because the country experienced thousands oftremors each year. She made notes of pertinent facts and figures. How did people manage living with that? It was fascinating and petrifying in equal measure.
“Raring to go?” asked Moeen as he shrugged his camera bag onto his shoulder.
She nodded as she switched her phone on and waited for it to go through the start-up process. Then she saw the notification:You have a voicemail, followed by Nell’s number. Instantly, her heartbeat went into overdrive. At the same time, her body worked on automatic as she followed Moeen along the aisle and down the steps of the aircraft into the chilly and damp night air. Once in the arrivals building, she headed for the restroom.
She locked the door behind her and listened to Nell’s message.
“Hi. I got your messages. Work comes first, I know that. I’ll be watching your reports. Stay safe.”
Mattie rocked back on her heels as she listened to it a second and then a third time. That was it? The taut voice and precisely spoken words didn’t sound like Nell’s. They belonged to Chief Inspector Abraham. Nausea washed over Mattie, and she sat on the closed toilet seat before she fell down. Nell had brushed the situation off like it didn’t bother her. What had Mattie envisaged Nell saying? That she was deeply disappointed, inconsolable, or heartbroken? At least something more emotional or heartfelt. She dropped her head into her hands. This was exactly why she’d wanted to talk to Nell in person.
Her phone buzzed with a notification.Do I need to send in a search party?Moeen’s message nudged her into action. She used the toilet, cleaned up the tears she hadn’t realised she’d cried, and found Moeen at the luggage carousel.
Ed had organised transportation from the airport, and it was waiting for them when they emerged from the terminal building. “I’m dog-tired,” Mattie said as they loaded their bagsinto the back of the van. “I’ll catch up on some sleep while we’re travelling.”
“Grab every chance we can,” said Moeen. “We both know how rare sleep is once we’re at the scene.”
Except she couldn’t doze off. She stared out of the passenger window at fuzzy car headlights and buildings occasionally lighting up the dark night. Nell’s message replayed on a loop in her head. What should she say or write in response? For someone who earned their living using words, she was remarkably bereft of them right now. But she had to send something, or Nell would think she was ignoring her.
Thanks. You take care too, sweetheart. Xxx
Before she pressed send, she deletedsweetheart. If Nell was going to be practical about this, so would she.
Chapter 31
Nell awoke with parched and gritty eyes because she’d fallen asleep wearing her contact lenses. Her heart felt just as lousy. She sighed raggedly as she dragged herself out of bed to the bathroom.Great. Her eyes were blotchy and swollen, like she had a bad case of hay fever. She’d have to find her glasses and wear those until her eyes had calmed down. She removed the contacts and squirted lubricating drops into her eyes. Too much came out, drowning her eyeballs. Blinking rapidly, she laughed mirthlessly. The drops could replace the copious tears she’d shed last night after hearing Mattie’s messages.
She’d been at Exeter Crown Court all day. Pissed off because the trial had collapsed due to a flaky witness, she’d been striding to the car park on Magdalen Road when she’d seen the text and heard the first voicemail urging her to call. Her mind had raced into overthinking mode. Had Mattie been involved in an accident? Was she in the hospital? Had someone close to her died?
And then she’d listened to the second voicemail. Stupidly, she’d stopped abruptly, causing the man walking behind to careen into her. Dazed by that and Mattie’s message, she’d leaned against a lamp post to steady herself. That was it?Their plans for a first Christmas together ditched in one short message. She’d clamped her mouth shut while something inside her had torn apart. Later, there’d been a final message in response to hers, saying thanks and to take care. It was the kind of message a friend like Angie would send, not her lover.
Fed up with looking at her miserable reflection in the bathroom mirror, Nell went downstairs to the kitchen. Filling the kettle, spooning loose Assam tea into the pot, and sniffing the milk to check it hadn’t gone off happened by rote. Despite knowing it might hurt to see Mattie, she switched onWorldwide News. Presumably, Mattie would be at the scene by now, but although the rolling news coverage was almost exclusively about the earthquake, none of the reports were hers. Nell couldn’t decide if it was a good or a bad thing that Mattie wasn’t currently filling her screen.
Her eyes strayed to the table where Mattie’s Christmas present sat in a purple pot. The Baby Darling miniature rose was little more than a ball of short stems jutting out of the soil like a pair of open scissors, but come early summer, they’d be covered in fragrant apricot-pink blooms. Nell tested the soil with the tips of her fingers. Perfect.
She kept the TV on in the background while she toasted two slices of bread and gathered butter and marmalade. The marmalade was a treat she’d bought because Mattie loved it. What had she had for breakfast? Anything? How did practicalities like food and sleeping happen on an assignment to a disaster scene? Did a guy know a guy and food just showed up? She remembered Mattie admitting she was bad at prioritising meals on location, especially when obtaining food involved a long trek.
