In the Still of the Night

Harriet turned to look at Annie, and, seeing her expression, Annie felt a leap of alarm and got to her feet. ‘Is something wrong? What is it? What’s happened?’

Harriet came and put an arm round her, watching her with concern. ‘There was a call from London Hospital – your mother’s been taken there, she’s had an accident.’

3

‘I’ll drive you there now.’

Annie was so distraught she didn’t realise who was speaking for a moment or two, then she recognised Sean’s deep voice and looked at him, her blue eyes wide and darkened with distress and anxiety.

‘That’s OK, I can get a taxi. Harriet will need you.’

Sean put a hand under her elbow, his face insistent. ‘I’ve finished here for the day. Someone should go with you.’

‘Yes, I agree, I’d come with you myself, but I can’t leave until this last scene is safely in the can,’ Harriet said. ‘I hope it isn’t anything serious, Annie. If you need time off, let me know – we can work round you or Sean can rewrite the script to leave you out of next week’s schedules.’

Annie nodded, but she was too worried about her mother to think of anything else. She followed Sean over to the sleek black Porsche, stopped and looked down at her suit, said abstractedly, ‘Oh, I should change into my own clothes. Wardrobe will want this back.’

‘Never mind that now, don’t worry about it.’ Harriet kissed her cheek. ‘Keep in touch. Ring me and let me know how your mother is.’

Sean started the engine and the Porsche shot away; Annie almost catapulted through the windscreen.

‘Seatbelt!’

The bark of Sean’s voice made her jump. She fumbled with the seatbelt, finally managing to slot it into place across her. What sort of accident had her mother had? It wasn’t the first time Trudie had hurt herself — she was always doing it, she got cuts and bruises all the time, but she rarely hurt herself badly enough to be taken to hospital and Annie was frightened. This might be it, the moment when her mother was taken away from her for good.

Doctors had been warning her for a year past that Trudie was fast losing her grip on reality, but she kept hoping against hope that her mother would improve.

When they reached the hospital’s grim Victorian grey walls, she stared up at them with foreboding.

‘It looks like a prison, doesn’t it? My mother hates coming here,’ she muttered, shivering.

‘She probably didn’t see it if she was in an ambulance,’ comforted Sean. ‘My mother hates hospitals, too, but she never lets on what’s really bugging her. She’s too busy looking after everyone else.’

Annie looked at him in such obvious surprise that he laughed.

‘What’s the matter? Didn’t you think I had a mother?’

She laughed too. ‘Is she proud of you for becoming a famous writer?’

‘She’s a fan of yours, rather than mine,’ he said, startling her again.

‘I’m sure she isn’t!’ Annie got out of the car; so did Sean.

‘Come home with me one day and meet her and find out.’ He locked his Porsche and turned to join her. ‘I’ll come in with you.’

‘I’ll be OK, I’ll get a taxi home,’ Annie said, but he ignored her protest and followed her as she hurried towards the great glass doors of the hospital, which slid apart electronically.

She looked small and lost in the busy ant heap of the hospital reception lobby – like a child, in spite of the grey suit and police haircut. She didn’t want him around, but he wasn’t being shaken off. She might need someone around to lean on if she got bad news about her mother.

Annie asked at the reception desk where she could find her mother, and was directed to the right ward. ‘On the first floor, keep turning left, follow the signs overhead, you can’t miss it,’ the

receptionist told her, staring. She was a woman in her forties, plump, fresh-faced, with henna-dyed hair. ‘You’re … are you … Annie Lang? The actress? You’re in that police thing, that soap … with Mike Waterford, aren’t you?’

Annie nodded, desperate to get to her mother, turning away.

‘I knew I knew you, the minute you walked in, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I recognised you.’ The receptionist laughed excitedly, very flushed.

As Sean joined them the woman glanced eagerly at him, obviously hoping to recognise him, too. Her face fell when she realised she had never seen him before and she looked back at Annie.