‘Robert! Mother! Father!’ Alice ran through the house shouting at the top of her voice. ‘It’s over. The war’s over. Churchill’s just been on the wireless . . .’
She burst into the parlour where Henrietta was sitting mending socks. Henrietta looked up quickly, her needle suspended in mid-air. ‘Really? Is it really over?’
Alice nodded, her face pink with excitement. ‘Oh Mother, they’ll all be coming home. They’ll all be safe now.’ She clasped her hands in front of her chest, unable to believe that the war had ended and that her family were safe, if not quite sound. Poor Harry, whom she regarded as a member of the family, would live with the after-effects for ever, just as her darling Robert had done all these years.
She whirled around. ‘I must find Robert. He might not have heard.’
She hurried through the house to where the surgeries of both Robert and Conrad were situated. In the small waiting room, there were three patients waiting their turn to see one of the doctors.
‘Have you heard?’ Alice beamed at them. ‘It’s over. The war’s finally over.’
They glanced at one another and then looked back at Alice. ‘A’ you sure, Miss Alice?’
Alice nodded, unable to contain her excitement.
At that moment, the door to Robert’s consulting room opened.
‘Robert – the war’s over. Have you heard?’
But Robert was not smiling; he didn’t seem to be listening to her. Instead he crossed the room and took her arm gently. He turned briefly towards the waiting patients. ‘Please excuse me for a moment. An urgent family matter. Dr Conrad will see all of you.’
‘Oh, but Dr Maitland—’ one of the women patients began, but Robert ignored her and steered Alice out of the room. As he closed the door, Alice said, ‘What is it? Has something happened?’
‘I’ve just had a telephone call from Daisy’s CO. She didn’t return last night from collecting an aircraft due for maintenance.’
‘Oh no,’ Alice breathed. All the exhilaration at the news that the war was over drained out of her in an instant. ‘What – what are they doing?’
‘Looking for her, but – it may take some time.’
Alice gripped his shoulder. ‘Robert – we must tell Luke and Johnny. Maybe they can do something.’
‘I understand Gill is dealing with that.’
‘Oh – yes. She’ll know how to get hold of them, won’t she?’
‘Luke? Luke? Is that you? The line’s awfully bad. Can you hear me?’
‘Yes, darling, I can,’ Luke shouted down the telephone. ‘Have you heard? It’s all over. We can all go home and you and I can get married. Say you’ll marry me, Gill.’
‘Yes – yes, of course, but listen a minute—’
‘Well, that’s not quite the response I was hoping for,’ he laughed, ‘but go on.’
‘Daisy’s missing. She didn’t come back last night from Scotland and we’ve had no word from her.’
Immediately, Luke’s elation died. ‘Oh God, not now.’
‘Can you do anything? I’ve been given permission to take the Anson and fly the route she was supposed to take. I’m taking a couple of the girls with me as lookouts, but I just wondered . . .’
‘Yes, of course. I’ll see the CO straightaway.’
‘And Luke – tell Johnny. He might be able to help too.’
‘Right. Yes. Tell me her route.’
Gill gave him the details and when he replaced the receiver he jotted them down quickly so that he could relay them to Johnny. He was sure Johnny would help – with or without permission. This was worth risking a court martial for.
But no one demurred; both their superior officers were only too keen to help and soon both Luke and Johnny were taking off from their respective airfields in their Spitfires and rendezvousing by communicating over their radios. They could not get in touch with Gill, but they knew the route. They flew at a safe distance side by side and spoke to each other about how they should search.
‘We’ll fly as we are now as far as Prestwick. That’s where she was coming from. If we see nothing, we’ll come back on the same route but fly further apart,’ Luke suggested. ‘But we’ll need to land to refuel somewhere.’
In the distance they saw the Anson, flying steadily in the same direction, but it was Johnny who spotted the crashed aircraft in a field just north of Carlisle. They flew lower and circled it.
‘There are people around it.’
‘I can’t see anyone still in the aircraft, can you?’
‘No, and they don’t look as if they’re making any attempt to get anyone out.’
‘She’s either been moved already or she bailed out.’
‘Would she have had a parachute?’
‘I honestly don’t know,’ Luke said worriedly.
‘Shall we land and talk to the folks down there?’
‘Where’s Gill?’
‘Gone on ahead. I don’t think they spotted this. She’s flying a bit further over to the left.’
‘I’ll go down and let you know.’
Luke turned his aircraft to make an approach on the far side of the field away from the crowd who were milling around the aircraft. As he landed on the bumpy grass field and came to a halt, several people came running towards him.
He opened his canopy but did not, at the moment, stop his engine or climb out.
One of the young men clambered onto the wing to speak to him above the noise of the engine.
‘Any sign of the pilot?’ Luke shouted.
The young man shook his head. ‘We’re searching . . .’ He waved his hands towards the surrounding fields and the wooded side of a mountain to the north. ‘It crashed last night and we came straight out to it, but there was no sign of the pilot. He must have bailed out.’
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Luke couldn’t suppress a smile. ‘Actually, we think the pilot was a young woman.’
The young man gaped. ‘Flying a Spitfire?’
‘Yes. She’s a member of the ATA. They’ve ferried aircraft around the country throughout most of the war.’
‘Blimey!’ He held out his hand over the side of Luke’s cockpit. ‘Name’s Dan, by the way. If we should find her, I’ll put a white cross on this field with sheets or something.’
Luke shook his hand. ‘Thanks, Dan. We’ll take a look from the air.’ He gestured skywards towards Johnny, who was still circling the field. ‘If we see anything, Johnny will circle it and I’ll come back here. By the way, where’s the nearest airfield? We might need to refuel.’
Luke took off again and once airborne, spoke to Johnny, relating what he’d found out.
They circled the field in ever-widening circles until Johnny said, ‘I think we should take a look up that mountainside, Luke. She was coming from the north, wasn’t she?’
‘Good idea. Let’s go.’
‘But, Robert, where can she be? Wouldn’t she land somewhere for the night when it started to get dark? They’re not supposed to fly at night, are they?’
‘Alice, darling, you know Daisy. She can be a bit of a rule breaker. With all her experience, she probably thinks she can get away with night flying now.’
Alice shuddered. ‘But what’s happening? What are they doing?’
‘They’ll be looking for her. Don’t worry.’
‘Of course I’m worrying.’ Alice had tears in her eyes. ‘We’ve had years of worrying about them all and for this to happen now – just when the war’s ended – is just so cruel.’
Robert put his arm round her and pulled her close. ‘Come on, love, hold up. Don’t give in now. We must go and find Mother and Father. We need to tell them.’
Betty was the one who took the news to her sister and subsequently to the rest of the village. ‘You can’t believe it happening now, of all days, can you? Poor Miss Alice is in pieces.’
‘I don’t wonder. I know just how she feels,’ Peggy said. ‘When Luke was missing, it was hell on earth waiting for news. How I wish we knew what was happening. It’s the not knowing that’s almost the worst thing to bear.’
‘I’ll just go and tell our mam. She’ll spread the word.’
As soon as she heard, Bess hurried to Norah’s cottage. ‘Daisy’s missing. You couldn’t make it up, could you? We get to the end of the war with all of ’em all right – well, more or less,’ she added, thinking of Harry. ‘And then this happens. Our Betty’s just been down to tell me so I could come and tell you, Norah, duck. They’re all in a right tizzy at the hall, I can tell you.’
Norah sat down suddenly, as if her legs gave way beneath her. ‘Oh, what will Len say? Our only granddaughter.’
‘I’ll go and tell him, duck.’
‘I know exactly what he’ll say,’ Norah said flatly. ‘She had no need to go. She should have stayed here and helped Mrs Maitland. They all should.’
Norah was right; that was exactly what Len said when Bess told him.