The waiting room was as dismal as the platform.
A sign had been put up on the counter of a little cafe over by the window.
Back soon, Dani read, and she sank down on a bench.
When she’d thawed out enough to move her fingers, she took out her phone again.
She had to talk to somebody.
But which of the three numbers should she choose?
Not Dad’s. He’d be angry when he heard she was in Northbrook. She had that feeling.
And Grandma would have a heart attack if she knew that no one had come to meet Dani.
Then there was Sadie, who Dani wasn’t allowed to phone.
I’ll count to a hundred, she decided. If no one has come by then, I’ll call anyway. One, two, three…
By the time she got to four she had pressed the number.
Sadie answered immediately.
“Hi Dani. I can’t talk to you. I’m at work.”
“I’m not allowed to talk either,” said Dani quickly, “but I have to!”
“Where are you?”
“At the station!”
“Which station?”
“Northbrook! No one’s come to get me…”
“Oh, you’re in Northbrook!” cried Sadie.
Then someone told her to put away the phone.
“Stay right where you are,” Sadie whispered. “I’ll come and get you.”
“When?”
“In an hour.”
She might as well have said a year.
Dani felt a wave of panic.
“You have to come now!”
“It’s not possible, but I’ll try to get hold of my sister…”
The conversation ended. Dani swallowed her tears, put the phone on the bench and went over to the window to watch for Ella’s mother.
But however hard she looked, she couldn’t see Sonja’s red car.
After a while she heard voices and turned around.
She wasn’t alone in the waiting room any more.
At the door stood a pair of big boys watching her. They didn’t look nice.
The big black dog with them didn’t look nice either. It could only see out of one eye. The other eye was all white. Suddenly Dani’s phone rang.
Dani hurried over to the bench, but one of the boys got there first and picked it up.
“Hello,” he said. “No, this isn’t Dani. Goodbye!”
“Give me my phone!” cried Dani, trying to get it.
The dog barked, and Dani drew back.
“Pat Toto, and you can have it,” said the boy.
When she reached for the phone again, the dog jumped up at her.
Dani was terrified.
“Take it away!” she shrieked, looking desperately around.
She backed away and scrambled under the bench, taking cover behind her suitcase.
