‘Eve, we have to get away from here now,’ he interrupted.
He was overreacting, Eve told herself, shivering slightly as more thunder and lightning split the sky. Yes, the river was high—incredibly high—and it smelt and looked odd, but calling the emergency services was far too extreme.
‘Tom—’
He didn’t even acknowledge she had spoken. He was already hustling her down the road, but, just as they reached the bottom of Harbour Road, they both came to a halt as a sound shattered the air. A bomb or a gas explosion, was Eve’s immediate thought, but the sound was immediately followed by a roar. A terrible, screaming roar that made her look over her shoulder and what she saw made her heart stop.
‘Tom.’ She whispered. ‘Oh, my God, Tom, look!’
A torrent of water was cascading out of Bridge Street, completely engulfing Harbour Bridge. Engulfing it in a raging, nine-foot-high torrent of black water in which dustbins were being tossed like toys before being spat out into the harbour, and when Tom grabbed her hand she didn’t hesitate for a second. She began to run.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘HAS a gas main exploded?’ Hazel, the practice manager, exclaimed, her face white with shock, as Tom and Eve raced into the surgery. ‘I heard this awful sound, then our landline went dead, and I’ve been trying to get the police on my mobile—’
‘Where’s Nick?’ Tom demanded, cutting right across the practice manager without compunction.
‘He’s not here,’ Hazel replied. ‘Kate rang about fifteen minutes ago, saying she wasn’t happy about Stephanie Richards, so he went to help her.’
‘Who’s Stephanie Richards?’ Tom asked, looking from Eve to Hazel, but it was Eve who answered.
‘Mum-to-be, due date the 20th of this month. Her boyfriend walked out on her when he discovered she was pregnant, and she’s not had an easy pregnancy. She…’ Eve swallowed convulsively. ‘Tom…She lives in Bridge Street.’
‘Not the best place to be at the moment,’ Tom said evenly, and Eve let out a cry that was halfway between a sob and a laugh.
‘Not the best place?’ she repeated. ‘Tom, you saw that water—’
‘What the hell was that noise?’ Oliver interrupted as he came running out of his consulting room. ‘I was ploughing through my paperwork, listening to the rain bouncing off the roof, then it sounded as though a bomb had gone off.’
‘The river Lanson’s broken its banks,’ Tom declared, ‘and, at a rough guess, I’d say it’s running nine feet higher than it should be.’
‘Nine feet?’
‘Oliver, it was awful—truly awful!’ Eve exclaimed, as the young doctor stared at her, open-mouthed. ‘One minute the Harbour Bridge was there, and the next…’
‘You mean, the bridge has collapsed?’ Oliver gasped, and Eve shook her head helplessly.
‘I don’t know. It might still be there, under the water, but…’ She clasped her hands together to try to stop them shaking. ‘Tom—Kate and Nick, and the people who live in Gull Close and Bridge Street like Gertrude Stanbury, Audrey Baxter—we have to help them. That water…’
‘I know,’ Tom said, his gaze steady, his voice calm, ‘but we both also know we haven’t a hope in hell of getting up either of those streets. Hazel, phone Nick on his mobile—’
‘I can’t, Tom,’ the practice manager interrupted. ‘Bridge Street, Gull Close and Penhally Heights—they’re all blind spots as far as mobiles are concerned. I could try reaching them by radio, but if they’ve left their handsets in their cars…’
‘We’d be better off using smoke signals,’ Tom finished for her grimly. ‘OK, Oliver, as Nick isn’t here, you’re in charge.’
‘No,’ the young doctor declared immediately. ‘Absolutely not. Hell, Tom, you’re head of operations at Deltaron. If anyone has the expertise for a situation like this, it’s you.’
That Tom didn’t want to be in charge was plain. A shadow had crossed his face, making him look, Eve thought, suddenly every one of his forty-four years, but Oliver was right. Only Tom had experience of dealing with this sort of situation, and whatever had happened to him, whatever he had witnessed that had made him feel he had wasted his life, it didn’t alter the fact that they needed him.
‘Tom?’ Eve said hesitantly, and saw a small muscle clench in his cheek, then he nodded.
‘All right, but one thing has to be understood,’ he said. ‘If I’m in charge then whatever I decide we go with, no argument, no discussion. Even if you don’t like my decision—feel it’s the wrong one—my decision stands.’
‘I hardly think any of us are going to query your judgment,’ Oliver said, and when Eve and Hazel nodded their agreement, Tom’s lips curved slightly.
‘I’ll remind you of that later,’ he said, then turned to Hazel. ‘Phone the coastguard, the fire brigade, and keep phoning the police. Tell them the Lanson’s broken its banks, and we need help now.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s just after two o’clock, which means the kids will still be in school. Oliver, phone both the primary and secondary schools, tell them not to let any of the children go home. Eve, I need a map of the village—the more detailed the better.’
Eve scarcely heard him. Try as she may, she couldn’t forget the wall of surging, churning water, and when she thought of Audrey, and Gertrude, the people who might have been walking down those two streets…And Tassie. Her heart clutched and twisted inside her. Tassie was always calling in on Gertrude to borrow books. What if she was there, in Gull Close, trapped?
She won’t be, her mind insisted. It’s a school day, so Tassie will be in school, safe, and, as she felt a surge of relief course through her, she dug her fingernails deep into the palms of her hands, hating herself for feeling such relief when so many others were in danger.
‘Eve, we can stand here worrying, or we can do something, and right now I need that map.’
She looked up to find Tom’s gaze on her, and though there was understanding in his green eyes, there was impatience in them, too, and with an effort she straightened her shoulders.
‘There’s an aerial photograph of Penhally in the waiting room,’ she said. ‘Would that be any use?’
‘Perfect,’ Tom replied. ‘Absolutely perfect.’
‘Tom, how can this have happened?’ she said as she followed him into the waiting room. ‘We’ve had violent thunderstorms before, but never anything like this.’
‘My guess is the thunderstorm earlier this morning caused something to collapse further up the hill, forming a dam,’ Tom replied as he took the photograph off the wall. ‘Then, when we had the second thunderstorm, the sound we heard was the dam breaking. I can’t think of anything else which would cause such a volume of water to travel down at such speed.’
‘Schools alerted,’ Oliver announced when Tom and Eve returned to Reception, ‘and I’ve phoned St Piran Hospital, warned them to be on standby for possible casualties.’
‘The firemen are on their way,’ Hazel chipped in, ‘but whether they’ll be able to get here is another matter. Roads seem to be flooded everywhere. The coastguard have scrambled their helicopter, and the Royal Navy are sending three more.’
‘What about the police?’ Tom demanded, and Hazel shook her head.
‘All of their mobile phone numbers seemed to be permanently engaged. Not surprising, really, under the circumstances.’
‘Keep phoning them,’ Tom said. ‘They need to start evacuating people in case that water spreads, and we have to find somewhere safer, too.’
‘But surely we’re safe here?’ Eve protested. ‘The water was racing straight out of Bridge Street into the harbour.’
‘We need to be higher, much higher,’ Tom insisted. ‘Do either of the schools have a generator?’
‘The high school does,’ Hazel replied.
‘Then the high school would be the best place for us to relocate to, and it would also be perfect for the villagers living on the west side of the Lanson to assemble,’ Tom observed. ‘For the people who
live east of the river…’ He squinted at the aerial photograph. ‘The Smugglers’ is the highest, and there’s also fields behind it where a helicopter could land. Would there be anybody at the inn at this time of day?’
‘Tony—the owner,’ Eve replied. ‘He’s always there, and I know he’d be more than willing to help, but won’t we need a medic on site in case someone comes in injured?’
‘Dragan,’ Tom said. ‘He was going out on home visits today, wasn’t he, so where’s he likely to be?’
Eve picked up the home-visits notebook, and scanned it quickly.
‘At a guess, I’d say he should have reached Mrs Young at Penhally Heights by now.’
‘Excellent.’ Tom nodded. ‘Oliver…’ The young doctor wasn’t listening. He was punching numbers into his mobile phone, and with a flash of irritation Tom turned to Hazel. ‘Phone Tony at The Smugglers’, explain the situation, and then see if you get Dragan. If you do, tell him not to attempt to come back into the town, but to head for The Smugglers’. Where’s your physio? Laurie—’
‘Lauren,’ Eve corrected him. ‘She said she was dropping in on Mrs Chamberlain at Harbour View, then going on to Gow Court.’
‘Where’s Gow Court on this photograph?’ Tom asked, and Eve pointed to it.
‘It’s a newly built sheltered housing complex, in this small cul-de-sac running off from Trelawney Rise.’
‘Which means, if Lauren’s already left the nursing home, and is on her way to Gow Court,’ Tom murmured, ‘she’ll either be driving down Penhally View, then into Polkerris Road, and on to Gow Court, or…’
‘She could have taken the quicker route down Bridge Street,’ Eve said.
Tom’s eyes met hers, blank, unreadable.
‘Then let’s hope she’s taken the scenic route,’ he said evenly. ‘Hazel—’
‘Chloe’s not answering, Eve,’ Oliver exclaimed in frustration. ‘I’ve rung her over and over, and she’s not picking up the phone.’
‘Maybe she’s asleep,’ Eve declared, seeing the worry on the young doctor’s face. ‘Maybe she had to go out,’ she continued, only to realise too late that this hadn’t been the wisest wise thing to say. ‘I mean—’
‘I’ve left a message on Dragan’s mobile, telling him to make for The Smugglers’,’ Hazel interrupted. ‘I’ve also got Chief Constable D’Ancey on my mobile. Do you want me to tell him we’ve agreed on two places of safety—the high school and The Smugglers’?’
Tom nodded, and turned back to Eve. ‘Does Gow Court have wardens as it’s a sheltered housing complex?’
‘Carol and Florry Ford,’ Eve replied.
‘Phone them. If Lauren’s there, tell her to make straight for the school hall.’
Eve didn’t say, But what if she isn’t there? But Tom must have realised she was thinking it, because as she picked up her mobile he smiled encouragingly at her.
‘One step at a time, Eve,’ he said, and she managed to smile back, but she felt less like smiling when she couldn’t get a reply from Gow Court, and her smile disappeared completely when the lights in the surgery began to flicker.
‘I’m surprised that hasn’t happened before,’ Hazel observed. ‘Our emergency generator will kick in but…’
‘It’s time for us to move,’ Tom finished for her. ‘Where’s your radio equipment?’ he continued, and when Eve led him through to the back of Hazel’s office to show him, he let out a low whistle. ‘I’ll say one thing for Nick, he hasn’t stinted on anything. OK, we need to take this, and every piece of movable medical equipment we think we might need up to the school hall. Where’s Oliver?’
As though on cue, the young doctor appeared behind them, his face white with worry.
‘Chloe’s still not answering,’ he said. ‘Where is she—where the hell is she?’
‘Oliver, you have my permission to keep phoning your fiancée,’ Tom exclaimed, not bothering to hide his irritation, ‘but can you do it while you’re also carrying some medical equipment out to your car?’
Oliver opened his mouth, then closed it again, and grimly picked up two of their portable defibrillators and disappeared with them.
‘Tom, he’s worried about Chloe,’ Eve said awkwardly. ‘He loves her.’
‘And as far as we know she’s safe, whereas a lot of people in Penhally aren’t,’ Tom retorted, ‘so can we start moving things to the hall, or are we going to wait until the Lanson is lapping round our ankles?’
He was right, Eve knew he was. Speed was of the essence, but she wished he’d been a little kinder, a little gentler, with Oliver. She would have been frantic, too, if she’d been in the young doctor’s shoes, and it didn’t surprise her when she saw Oliver constantly checking his phone as they moved their portable medical equipment out to their cars, and he was still attempting to contact Chloe when they were carrying it through the rain and into the school.
‘She said she was going to spend the whole afternoon at home, Eve,’ Oliver muttered when they began setting up the radio equipment in the small office leading off from the school hall. ‘You heard her. That’s where she said she would be, so why isn’t she answering the phone?’
Eve wished she knew. She wished, even more, that she could find some words of comfort to give to the young man, but she couldn’t think of anything to say apart from, She’ll be all right, and there was no point in saying that. Oliver would quite rightly turn round and demand to know how the hell she knew, so she simply squeezed his arm, and tried to look as reassuring as she could as they finished connecting all the radio equipment.
‘OK, this radio must never be left unattended,’ Tom declared when he joined them. ‘When our mobile batteries run out—as they assuredly will—it’s going to be our only means of contacting the outside world. We’ll take it in rotas, but somebody needs to be by the radio at all times.’
‘I’ll take the first shift,’ Eve said quickly. ‘I mean, I haven’t exactly been of much use up until now,’ she added as Hazel hurried off in answer to Oliver’s beckoning wave, ‘so can I take the first shift on the radio?’
‘Of course you can,’ Tom said, ‘but what do you mean, you haven’t been much use?’
Eve shrugged helplessly.
‘Hazel…She’s been so efficient, on the ball, and I…I just keep seeing that wall of water, thinking if anyone was walking down Bridge Street, or Gull Close, when the dam broke…’
‘Considering how heavy the rain was beforehand, I should imagine most people would have hurried indoors, don’t you?’ he said, and she forced a smile.
‘I suppose so,’ she said, then bit her lip. ‘How do you do it—manage to stay so calm?’
‘Because it’s my job,’ he answered simply. ‘Running around like a headless chicken isn’t going to get me anywhere.’
‘No,’ she muttered. ‘Sorry. Memo to self. Stop behaving like a headless chicken. It’s just…’ She shivered involuntarily as the sky outside the office window lit up with lightning. ‘I’m so cold, Tom. I don’t know why, but I’m so cold, and I can’t seem to get warm.’
He walked towards her, and before she knew what was happening he had wrapped his arms around her.
‘Shock,’ he said. ‘What you’re suffering from is shock.’
‘Is that a professional diagnosis, Dr Cornish?’ she said, resting her forehead on his chest, and holding onto him because he felt warm and solid, and so very good.
‘Absolutely,’ he murmured into her hair. ‘Are your feet dry?’
She jerked her head up to look at him. ‘What?’
‘Wet feet make you feel cold, and cold hands made you feel downright miserable.’
‘What medical textbook did that come out off?’ she said, chuckling a little unevenly.
‘The Dr Tom Cornish book of medical symptoms,’ he said. ‘It’s never ever wrong.’
She put her head back on his chest, needing his warmth, his closeness.
‘Tom…I’m scared—so very scared.’
‘Glad to hear it,’
he said to her surprise. ‘A healthy dose of fear means you’re not going to be tempted to do anything stupid.’
‘I’ve got more than a healthy dose of fear at the moment, believe me,’ Eve said with feeling, ‘and yet you…Doesn’t anything scare you?’
‘Lots of things. Spiders the size of dinner plates, crocs, boa constrictors.’
She shuddered.
‘You must think I’m such a wimp,’ she mumbled, and to her surprise he tilted her chin so she had to face him.
‘I think you’re wonderful. I always have done.’
There was tenderness in his face. An unutterable tenderness that made her heart clutch, and desperately she tried to remember all the years they’d been apart, the times when she’d been so unhappy, the reasons why she’d hated him, but all she was aware of was that—stupidly—crazily—she wanted to stay in his arms for ever.
‘Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t gone to the States?’ he said as though he’d read her mind, and she tried to avoid his gaze but couldn’t.
‘I think it’s too late for regrets, Tom,’ she said, feeling her throat tighten.
‘Is it?’ he said. ‘Eve—this flood—if anything should happen to me—’
‘Don’t say that,’ she ordered, quickly putting her fingers to his lips to silence him, feeling a chill wrap itself round her heart at his words. ‘We’re safe here. Nothing is going to happen to either of us.’
‘But suppose it did,’ he declared. ‘I just want you to know—’
Whatever he had been about to say was lost as their radio crackled into life, and a deep, male, Irish voice suddenly rang out.
‘Is that idle bastard, Tom Cornish, sitting on his backside somewhere nearby?’ the disembodied voice said, and Tom turned quickly towards the radio with a broad smile.
‘Hey, Mad Mitch,’ he said, releasing Eve to pick up the handset and press the respond button. ‘What the hell are you doing there?’
Caroline Anderson, Josie Metcalfe, Maggie Kingsley, Margaret McDonagh Page 38
