It was the first time Anna had ever attended two funerals in one day. First thing, she joined scores of mourners in Bromley to pay her last respects to Jacob Rossi.
There was a media scrum at the gates to the cemetery that included two television crews who were filing live reports.
During the service a friend of the family read the eulogy and there wasn’t a dry eye in the chapel. Afterwards, as the coffin was lowered into the ground, Mark Rossi let go of his wife’s hand and dropped to his knees next to the grave.
‘We will always love you, Jacob,’ he cried out. ‘I’m so sorry that we weren’t there to protect you. Please forgive us.’
As Anna watched from a distance she thought about the moment two weeks ago when she broke the news to him that it was his estranged stepbrother who had abducted Jacob, and not Roy Slater. Thankfully he hadn’t got around to telling his wife about his affair with Slater’s wife, so at least she was spared the agony of knowing that her husband had cheated on her.
Later Anna stood with Chloe in the crematorium chapel as another coffin slid towards the furnace. Inside it was one of the young men who had saved Chloe’s life.
Ryan Claymore.
This was a much smaller gathering, just a handful of people including the lad’s mother and father, and his best friend Wesley.
After the service, Wesley gave Chloe a small framed photograph of himself and Ryan sitting side by side on a park bench.
‘This is so that you won’t forget us,’ he said to her.
‘As if I would,’ she replied, but the words were barely out of her mouth before emotion overwhelmed her and she started to cry again.
Anna folded her arms around her and pulled her close.
‘Let it all out, Chloe,’ she said. ‘I’m here for you and I want you to know that I love you so much.’
Chloe looked up at her mother, her eyes drenched. She then uttered the words that Anna had been desperate to hear.
‘And I love you too, Mum,’ she said.