1 P.M. – 2 P.M.
I start to walk back towards the car park. It’s busier now, people pushing past each other, families walking as groups. Do any of them know about the crash? Nobody seems sad, the world is still turning. Or maybe they know, but because it hasn’t happened here, they’re detached from it all. The flight was on its way from Cairo to Amsterdam so most of the people affected by the crash will be from Egypt and the Netherlands. Nobody else will really care, not after the initial shock. It seems wrong, that detachment, selfish. Marnie pushes back into my mind. I should go home, in case she calls there. I don’t want Josh answering the house phone and hearing her in hysterics.
How long will she be stranded for, alone at Cairo Airport? I can’t imagine how she must be feeling – upset, frightened, completely unprepared for this sort of situation, without any life experience to help her cope. I should be with her, I need to be with her.
I stop walking and look around. There’s a travel agent’s somewhere near here. They’ll be able to help. I can get a flight to Cairo, find Marnie there. I start walking, then jogging, breaking through the crowds of people until I reach the travel agent’s.
Inside, I’m the only customer. A young woman – she doesn’t seem much older than Marnie – blonde, not dark-haired – looks up and smiles.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Hi, yes, I’d like to book a flight to Cairo, please.’
She immediately looks uneasy. She’ll have heard about the crash, of course she will, she’ll have been on her phone. I wonder if she’s been trained for this sort of situation, where a customer walks in and asks for a ticket to the very place where a plane has come down. I keep my eyes averted, hoping she’s not going to mention it.
‘When would you like to leave?’ she asks.
‘Later today, please.’ My voice sounds strange, even to my ears. She gives me another quick smile.
‘Why don’t you take a seat while I check?’
I don’t want to sit, I feel too claustrophobic.
‘It might not be possible today,’ she says carefully. ‘There’s some disruption with flights into Cairo.’ She pauses. ‘I could see if there’s a flight to one of the other airports in Egypt.’
‘No, it has to be Cairo.’
She looks behind her towards an open office door, but there’s no one there to help.
‘There may be something for tomorrow,’ she says, turning back to her computer. ‘Would that be a possibility for you?’
I turn it around in my mind. All I want is to get to Marnie, and waiting twenty-four hours seems impossible. And what if Marnie is no longer there by the time I arrive, but has already been put on another flight? I try to think logically. If there aren’t any flights into Cairo today, there aren’t likely to be any out, so Marnie won’t be going anywhere. And I know Marnie, she’ll be too frightened to get on a plane now. She’s only nineteen, she’s too young for this. All she’ll want is to speak to me and Liv, and to know that someone is coming to get her.
‘Tomorrow, then,’ I tell the travel agent.
‘There’s a flight leaving from London Heathrow at ten-thirty,’ she says. ‘It may be subject to delays,’ she adds hesitantly.
‘I’ll take it.’
‘When would you like to come back?’
Her question throws me. I have no idea what will happen when I get there. If they put Marnie on a flight to London, I’ll need to be on the same flight as her, but I can’t know which one they’ll put her on. And what if we decide that the best thing is to forget about her coming over and go back to Hong Kong instead?
There are too many scenarios to consider. Sweat begins to pool under my arms, along my hairline. The travel agent is staring at me. Her eyes wide. Neither of us blink.
‘I’m not sure, so just a one-way ticket for now,’ I say.
She nods, checks her computer screen, then glances at me.
‘Will that be one ticket?’
I’m about to say yes when I realise that Livia will want to come with me. She’ll want to be there too. She’ll feel exactly as I do, desperate to see Marnie with her own eyes, to be with her. She won’t want to wait at home.
‘No, two tickets, please.’
She nods. ‘That will be five hundred and fourteen pounds for the two, flying with Luxor.’
‘That’s fine.’
‘Name?’
‘Sorry?’
‘The passengers’ names, for the flight.’
‘Oh – Olivia Harman and Adam Harman.’
‘Your flight gets into Cairo tomorrow at ten to five in the afternoon, local time.’
‘Thanks.’
I text Marnie.
Marnie, we know what’s happened, don’t worry, stay where you are, Mum and I are coming to get you. There aren’t any flights today so we’re leaving tomorrow morning and will arrive at Cairo Airport at 4.50 p.m. If you have to move, to a hotel or anywhere else, let us know. Call us as soon as you can. We love you.
‘Here you are.’ The travel agent goes over the flights with me then asks if I want her to print the tickets. I nod, and the printer beside her whirs. She slips the tickets into a blue wallet with the logo of the agency on the front.
‘Thank you,’ I say, pushing it into my jacket.
She smiles, and suddenly I want to tell her about Marnie, about how close she was to being on that flight. But she breaks eye contact and pulls out a card machine.
Without a word, I pay and leave.
Outside, I stop for a moment. My mobile has remained silent in my hand but I light up the screen, just in case. It’s 13.45, nearly two hours since the crash. There’s still no message from Marnie. I try calling again but I can’t get through. The message I sent from the travel agent’s is undelivered. How long are the networks going to be down for?
The walk back to the bike passes in a blur. I take my helmet from where I left it in the top case and get on my bike, the air cooler now. I should call Liv, but it would be better if I wait until we’re together. Then I can show her the flight times and she’ll be able to see for herself that Marnie can’t possibly have made the connection.
I stop. The party. I’d forgotten about the party. How the hell have I not even thought about the party? Maybe we should cancel it. I pause, thinking it through. Livia will be devastated if we do and really, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t go ahead, as long as we hear from Marnie, which we will.
Livia won’t be there when I get home, I realise, she’ll still be at the spa. For a moment, I think about phoning Kirin to find out exactly where they are so that I can go and tell Livia there. At least I’d have someone to share my anxiety with. But that’s selfish. It will ruin her time with her friends and the thought of her feeling like I do – I can’t do that to her, I can’t.
I check my phone again. No message, nothing. It’s now two o’clock.