Making Jane Proud

Chapter 20 - Nobody Home

Tom was anxious. It wasn't until he was in the car on his way back to London and had wanted to call Ellie that he discovered his phone battery was flat; they had plans tonight - dinner with Benedict and Carolyn. He'd borrowed Ben's phone to call when they were held up in traffic on the A3 but it just rang out then went to voicemail. Although he'd left her a message she hadn't returned it yet, which was unlike her.

"Still no luck?" Ben asked him after he'd tried again. He merely shook his head. "Could she be mad at you? You know how women get sometimes."

"No, she's not like that." He was beginning to worry – what if she were in a bad hypo with no one on hand to help? He willed the traffic to move faster and wished he'd had the forethought to get Maggie's number. Suddenly an idea came to him and he borrowed Ben's phone again to call his sister.

"Em? Where are you?"

"Just leaving rehearsals at the Old Vic, why?"

"I need you to go round to my flat and check to see if Ellie is there and if she's okay."

Em knew he was dating Ellie but not that she'd moved in with him. "Why is she at your place? And why would she not be okay? What's going on Tommy?"

"I'll explain everything later – just do it, please. And call me on this number; my phone's dead." She grumbled at him a bit but promised to go straight to his place then call him, so he waited anxiously, his hand running through his hair almost constantly. Ben sat quietly beside him looking a little puzzled. "She has a medical condition," he briefly explained, "I'm worried in case she's had a bad episode." Ben nodded his understanding.

When his sister finally called he didn't know whether to be relieved or more concerned. "There's no one here Tommy, the place is empty."

"Have you checked in the bedroom? Bathroom?"

"Yes, she's not here."

He thought for a minute. "Can you see a green satchel a little larger than a briefcase with 'Teachers Do It With Class' on the side? It'll be full of school books."

There was a pause as she obviously went in search of the bag. "No, nothing like that anywhere."

He slumped in his seat – that meant Ellie hadn't even come home from school yet. Maybe she'd gone somewhere else on the way, perhaps...

"Tommy?" His sister's voice brought him back to focus.

"Yeah – thanks Em. Sorry to disrupt your night."

"That's okay big brother. You will tell me what's going on, won't you?" He gave a huge sigh; there were drawbacks to having two sisters who always wanted to know what was happening in his life. Her next words floored him, "Does mum know your girlfriend has moved in with you?"

"Em..."

"I'm assuming all the female clothes and make-up are hers and you haven't taken to cross-dressing?"

"Em..."

"Tell me everything and I might promise not to tell mum."

"God!" When she chuckled at his reaction he gave another frustrated sigh. "Okay but not now!" She laughed again then said goodbye and hung up. Tom shook his head and looked at Ben, who had to be curious from only hearing one side of the conversation. "She hasn't been at the flat."

He glanced out the window relieved to see they'd reached the outskirts of London at last and was struck by another idea when he saw the Wimbledon tube station sign. "Drop me here please!" he said to the driver. "I'll get there faster underground than in this heavy traffic," he said to Ben as he returned the borrowed phone and grabbed his things. The car pulled over and he promised to be in touch with Ben as soon as he found Ellie then leapt out and headed for the station.

Luckily the District Line trains went to Earls Court without him having to change, but he grew increasingly frustrated as they crawled through the seven stations in between, constantly being buffeted by the rush of commuters getting on and off. When they reached the stop at last he had to practically push his way through a crowd of people huddled around the door, muttering "Sorry!" every few seconds but desperate to get past them as quickly as possible.

He raced to the building where Maggie's flat was, pounded up the stairs three at a time and hammered on the door while he caught his breath, hoping Ellie would be here.

"Dammit!" When there was no reply after the second time he'd knocked loudly he had to accept there was no one home here either.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he reasoned with himself: if Ellie was trying to get in touch with him, she'd ring his mobile, so the best thing he could probably do was to go home and charge his phone – he may have missed calls or messages already, for all he knew.

---

When he finally got a charge back on his phone his disappointment was palpable – no contact from Ellie; he rang her number again but there was still no reply and he was becoming increasingly worried that something had happened to her. He knew that if Maggie had been contacted she would call him, but he worried that no one else would know he and Ellie were together and therefore if she were hurt, how would he find out?

He sent a quick text to Ben to cancel their plans and then, sick of pacing the floor, decided to search through Ellie's papers in hopes of finding a contact number for Maggie or any of her other friends; he was desperate enough to call every single one of them if he had to. When he came across an address book his hand was shaking so much in relief that he dropped it and swore out loud. Picking it up, he quickly turned to the S page – there she was, Maggie Stevenson.

It rang and rang while he began pacing again; he almost shouted at the phone for her to answer but luckily stopped himself, recognising it was a completely senseless thing to do.

"Hello?" He could hear a lot of noise in the background when she finally answered.

"Maggie, it's Tom, is Ellie with you?"

"Tom? No, she's not here, I thought you two had plans tonight?"

"You've spoken to her today?"

"She rang me after school. What's going on?"

"She's not at home and I can't get hold of her. I was hoping she was with you...what did she say when you spoke to her?"

"We chatted a bit – just general things, you know. She said she had some lesson planning to do; she was going to stay at school for a while to get that done so she could have a free weekend. She mentioned you had dinner plans with some friends I think it was?"

"She didn't say if she was going to call in somewhere on her way home? Or visit another one of her friends or anything?"

"No." Maggie was beginning to sound as worried as he felt. "Tom, it's almost seven thirty."

"I know."

"If you had plans she'd come home to change..."

"I don't think she's been here, her school bag isn't here."

"Shit."

"Maggie, I...god! I'm really worried..."

"I'm coming over. I'll go via her school – it's not far from here – just in case one of the cleaners can tell me what time she left and if she said anything that can help us find her. Stay there and keep trying her phone."

"Can't I do something? Maggie, I need to be doing something! I'm going crazy here!"

"You are doing something Tom, you're manning the phone and you're being at the place she would come to if she...just stay put, okay? I'll be there soon."

He tried Ellie's phone every five minutes, getting the same result as before, but now he left a message each time, "Darling, call me please."