St Piran's: The Fireman and Nurse Loveday. Kate Hardy

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      Before she could ask Nick anything else, two ambulances screamed up. The paramedic crew and two doctors headed towards them. Flora recognised one of them as Megan Phillips, who lived in the village, though she didn’t know Megan’s colleague.

      ‘I’m Josh O’Hara, A and E consultant,’ the unknown doctor introduced himself. ‘And this is Megan Phillips, paediatrician. ‘

      Josh was simply gorgeous, with black tousled hair that flopped in his indigo-blue eyes. Right now he wasn’t smiling; but no doubt when he did, any woman under the age of ninety would feel her heart turning over. And that Irish brogue would definitely melt hearts.

      Although Flora knew who Megan was, she didn’t know the doctor well at all; Megan kept herself very much to herself in the village. So Flora was relieved when Nick stepped in and spoke for both of them. ‘Nick Tremayne, head of Penhally Bay Surgery—and this is Flora, my practice nurse and school liaison. Luckily she was doing the MMR vaccinations next door and she’s brilliant with kids. Flora, you know Megan, don’t you? Can you work with her and I’ll work with Josh?’

      ‘Yes, of course,’ Flora said.

      Though she also noticed that Megan and Josh didn’t glance at each other, the way that colleagues usually did. The tension between them was obvious, so either they hadn’t worked together before and weren’t sure of each other’s skills, or they knew each other and really didn’t get on. Well, whatever it was, she hoped they’d manage to put it aside and work together until everyone was safe. In this situation, the children really had to come first.

      Megan gave her a slightly nervous smile. ‘Shall we go and see what’s going on?’

      Flora nodded. ‘The fire drill point’s at the far end of the playground, on the other side of the building.’

      ‘We’ll start there, then, and see if anyone needs treating,’ Megan said. ‘As you’re school liaison, you must know everyone here?’

      Flora felt colour flooding into her cheeks, and sighed inwardly. If only she didn’t blush so easily. She knew it made her look like a bumbling fool, and she wasn’t. She was a good nurse and she was fine with the children—and the teachers, now she’d got to know them. She just found herself shy and tongue-tied with adults she didn’t know very well. Stupid, at her age, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. Pulling herself together, she said, ‘I know all the staff and most of the children—I’ve either worked with their class or seen them for the usual check-ups.’

      ‘That’s good—you’ll be a familiar face and that will help them feel less scared,’ Megan said.

      As they rounded the corner, they could see a woman leaning against the wall, her face white, nursing her arm.

      ‘Patience, this is Megan, one of the doctors from St Piran’s. Megan, this is Patience Harcourt. She teaches Year Three,’ Flora introduced them swiftly. ‘Patience, what’s happened to your arm?’

      ‘I’d gone to the storeroom to get some supplies. I’d just switched on the light when it went bang—I went straight for the fire extinguisher, but before I could do anything the whole thing went up. I got out of there and closed the fire door to contain it.’ She grimaced. ‘Thank goodness one of the Year Five classes was doing PE and the other was in the ICT suite.’

      ‘Was anyone in the quiet room?’ Flora asked.

      Patience shook her head, looking white. ‘I hope not, but I don’t know.’

      ‘Let’s have a look at your arm,’ Megan said, and sucked in a breath. ‘That’s a nasty burn.’

      Patience made a dismissive gesture with her other arm. ‘I can wait. Check the children over first.’

      ‘Your burn needs dressing—the sooner, the better,’ Megan said gently. ‘Will you let Flora do it while I check the children?’

      The children were shivering because it was cold outside and the teachers had taken them straight outside away from the fire, not stopping to pick up coats; some were still wearing their PE kit. Some were crying, and all were clearly frightened.

      ‘We need to get them huddled together to conserve warmth,’ Megan said. ‘Under that shelter would be good. And then I can see if anyone needs treating. Flora, when you’ve dressed Patience’s burn, do you want to come and help me?’

      ‘Will do.’ Again, Flora could feel the hated colour flood her cheeks. She was glad of the excuse to turn her face away while she delved in her medical kit; then brought out what she needed to dress the burn and make Patience more comfortable.

      Tom was training one of the hoses on the flames. He didn’t have a clue whether Joey was safely in the playground with the other children because he couldn’t see. Although he was frantic to know that Joey was all right, he had a job to do and his colleagues were relying on him not to let them down. He had to keep doing his job and trust his colleagues to do theirs.

      I swear if he’s safe then I’ll do better by him, he promised silently to his sister. I’ll change my job, give up firefighting and concentrate on him.

      And then the headmistress hurried over towards them.

      ‘Is everyone safe?’ Steve asked.

      Rosemary Bailey looked grim. ‘There’s still part of one class missing. Some of the Reception children. ‘

      Tom, overhearing her, went cold. Joey was in the Reception year. ‘Is Joey all right?’ he asked urgently.

      Rosemary bit her lip. ‘He’s not with the others. There’s a group of children who’d gone to the quiet room at the end for extra help with reading. He must be with them. ‘

      Tom swallowed hard. ‘The quiet room. Is that the room at the end of the corridor?’ The room that was cut off, right now, by flames.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘It’s near the storeroom where the fire started. Right now, it’s structurally unstable,’ Steve said. ‘How many children are there?’

      ‘Five, plus Matty Roper, the teaching assistant in R2.’

      R2. Definitely Joey’s class, Tom knew. And he knew Matty—he’d had twice-weekly meetings with her about Joey since he’d become Joey’s guardian. Joey had been struggling at school for the last month, just shutting off, so Tom and Matty had been trying to work out how they could help him settle back in.

      Ice slid through his veins. The children were stranded.

       Including Joey.

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘RIGHT, I’m going in,’ Tom said. ‘Gary, can you take this hose from me?’

      Steve grabbed Tom’s shoulder to stop him. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

      ‘My nephew’s trapped in that room. No way in hell am I leaving him there!’ Tom snarled back.

      ‘Nobody’s saying that you have to leave him, Tom. But nobody’s going into that corridor until we’ve stabilised the area—otherwise СКАЧАТЬ