Chapter 3: Rob & Zara
“Hi, yes I’d like to report a missing child please. Her name’s Zara, she’s fifteen years old, was last seen about five o’clock, so seven hours ago, give or take. It’s the fourth time this week she’s been reported missing I believe.”
“Ok sir, can I ask for your name?”
“Of course. I’m Rob Jenkins, a senior residential care worker at the children’s home where Zara is currently living. I reported her missing two nights ago, a colleague of mine did the same last night.
The telephone operator asked Rob the questions he expected. He answered by reading from his prepared notes. After hanging up the phone he checked Claire had detailed the call to report Zara missing in the house logbook. He sent a text message to the home manager, Julia, to update her and then found Claire to ask her to telephone the ‘out of hours’ social worker to do the same. Boiling the kettle, he made two cups of strong coffee; it was going to be another long night.
Four cups of coffee, and numerous more unanswered calls and texts to Zara later, Rob and Claire were debating whether it was too early for breakfast. Rob was all for eating. “I can eat something now, then later on, say seven-ish I can eat again, that’ll be brunch. I’ll be on track for the rest of the day. It’s fine.”
Claire grinned. “Technically though, this wouldn’t be breakfast anyway. Breakfast breaks the fast, you know, like after sleep. And we haven’t been asleep. Or been fasting for that matter; we’ve both been tucking into biscuits all night!”
“What, so a bowl of cereal now would be supper? Then, if I have a nap, after work, till about two o’clock say, then have a sandwich – you’re saying that wouldn’t be lunch, but actually breakfast? But then, dinner would really be lunch, and I’d go to bed with no dinner. That’s crazy talk if ever I heard it. I’d be eating more often AND skipping meals. Humph, all this talk of food has definitely made me hungry. Toast?” Rob stood from the sofa and headed for the kitchen.
“Go on then, with some jam. I’ll put the kettle on.” Claire said as she followed Rob into the kitchen.
Three and a half cups of coffee, and two and a half repeated episodes of ‘Come Dine With Me’ later; the phone rang.
“Hello Zara, everything okay?” Claire asked.
Rob hears the frantic wail of an answer and examines Claire’s facial expression to try and determine how serious the trouble is that Zara has gotten herself involved with this time.
“You’re not hurt are you?” Claire asks and picks up a pen to note the key points from the conversation for Rob.
Cotswolds!
She writes, then underneath… Sounds drunk? followed by… The Iron Road pub?
A quick gulp of coffee later, Rob grabbed all the bits of paper he would need, the sat nav, which Claire had programmed to get him close to where Zara had described, and his own and the house’s mobile phones.
Sitting in the car, the first thing he did was change the radio station away from the overly cheery breakfast duo welcoming the early risers, to a far more respectable news show. Rob knew this would be changed back as soon as Zara got in the car so would enjoy this opportunity to find out what was going on in the world.
It was almost a two-hour drive to the small town Zara had ended up at. Rob was quite pleased that his destination today was somewhere picturesque; it made a nice change from the narrow backstreets of major cities she’d ended up lately. He knew that there was a train station near where Zara was waiting to be collected, but whether that was how she’d gotten there, and whom she had travelled with were both questions concerning Rob as he drove.
Once he arrived near where Zara was supposed to be waiting for him, Rob found a parking space easily; it was still too early for all but the keenest of shoppers, and headed by foot to find Zara. Checking the house mobile he read a new message from Zara.
‘Where are you? I’ve been sittn at a bus stop for ages. Not much credit :-(‘
He phoned her. “Rob, is that you?” Zara spoke at speed as soon as she answered the phone.
“Hi Zara, yes, it’s Rob. I’m here, just by a car garage, heading towards where I think you are. You haven’t moved have you? Be on the loo–”
“I’m still here, haven’t moved, you’ve been hours! Look like a proper Billy-No-Mates, loads of people have been walking past, you’d better have bought a hat, I mean my hair looks right… I mean I’ve just had people staring at me like a real whatdyacallit… did you get lost or something?” Rob recalled Claire saying that Zara had sounded drunk earlier, it seemed the alcohol was still in her system. He hoped it was only alcohol.
“You’re okay, Zara, we’ll get you back soon. A shower and a bite to eat will make you feel better. And I promise I won’t be staring at you in the car for the whole of the journey back… it’d only make my driving erratic. I’m sure you’ve got a comb or something in the glove box. You seemed to have put a whole bag of smelly stuff and war paint in there the other day, there’ll be something to freshen you up I’m sure. Be on the lookout for me, I’m heading your way. I’ll see you in a minute, stay where you are, okay?”
“Yeah, alright, whatever, I’m on a bench. Only me sitting on it, no one wants to share a seat with the crazy lady do they?” With that, Zara ended the call.
Rob phoned Claire straight away, he wanted to speak to her before getting to Zara.
“Hello, Claire speaking.”
“Hi, it’s Rob, I’m here, I’ve spoken to Zara. She’s alive, awake and says she hasn’t moved from where she was earlier. Sounds like she’s on her own, possibly still a little intoxicated. Are the other two girls up yet?”
Claire chuckled, “Yeah kinda, Kat woke up just after you left, then fell asleep on the sofa. I’ve not seen Livvy yet; I’ve heard her walking about. Kat didn’t say much, did let slip that Zara told her yesterday she was planning to meet with a new boyfriend. I’m tempted to believe Kat when she says she didn’t know any more than that. Sounds like Kat and Livvy fell out with Zara again yesterday. Kat spent more time this morning moaning that Zara was using the car as a personal taxi service, so yet again she couldn’t go out till you got back. A very colourful description of Zara she gave this morning. Will add a little spice to her daily report!” Claire chuckled again.
“Sounds about right,” Rob sighed “though the day Kat leaves the house before noon is the day it’ll snow, she does like something to complain about! Have you heard from Julia?”
“Yeah, she’s here- came in early; already left a message to speak to Zara’s social worker. He’s not in the office again though, so…” Claire trailed off.
“Yeah... same old story. I’ll see what she says on the way back. Maybe she’ll give a little more information today. I won’t be back before you finish your shift though so thanks for everything, two safe and sound, and one, fingers crossed, on way back to safety. Get some rest, and look after yourself.”
“Cheers Rob, no worries, you get some rest too. Have a nap maybe? Then a second breakfast if you fancy it! See ya later!”
“See you.” Rob chuckled as he put the phone away, and looked around to spot Zara. There really were very few people about, so he wasn’t walking far before he spotted the flash of bright pink that he recognised as belonging to Zara. She’d spotted him as well, and was running towards him. In her arms Rob spotted a small brown parcel.
“Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re here. And I never thought I’d ever say that, I don’t even really like you that much.” Zara hugged Rob’s arm, and wiped her panda eye’s on his sleeve, before tugging at him. “Where’ve you parked? I need my make up.”
“Come on you, this way.” And Rob turned back towards the car.
They walked at a brisk pace, and Rob looked down at the parcel Zara was holding close to her. “What you got there? A present for me?”
Claire followed Rob’s gaze. “Oh this. I found it.”
“What do you mean you found it? Is it yours?” Rob tried to look at the name on the parcel, but Zara blocked it with her arm
.
“It is now. I found it. I got bored, it was there, so now it’s mine. I’ll open it later.” Zara grinned, “Like a gift from the universe, I like surprises, and I didn’t really get much for my birthday, so this might make up for it. I mean it might be rubbish, which is why I’m saving it for later.”
“You can’t open it Zara. If it’s not got your name on it, it isn’t a gift from anyone, let alone from the universe. And opening someone else’s post is, I’m pretty sure, actually illegal.”
“It can’t be illegal. Not if you do it by accident, that’s ridiculous!” Zara held the parcel closer.
“By accident? If you’re saving something for later, you can’t then say it’s an accident.”
“I can say it was an accident, and you wouldn’t snitch on me, just for opening a parcel. I know you like your rules, but honestly, that’s not fair? It’s a small parcel someone forgot about. They forgot it, I found it. It’s mine now.”
“But you don’t even know if the person it’s supposed to be sent to is the person that’s forgotten it. They might not have even seen it yet. Maybe the person sending it misplaced it. That wouldn’t be fair. It might be something special.”
“It would be fair though. If it’s that special, then the person sending it should’ve taken more care over it. It’d be a learning experience, you like those, for them both. Don’t lose things, and don’t have rubbish, forgetful friends.”
“Oh Zara, you and your warped and twisted moral compass, you never cease to amaze me.”
“That’s ‘cause I’m proper amazing. You said it yourself!”
As soon as Zara spotted the car, she ran and stood by the passenger door. Getting in once it was unlocked, she immediately grabbed the make-up bag from the glove box, and turned the rear view mirror to look into.
Getting into the car, Rob pulled down the passenger visor and turned the rear view mirror back towards him. Zara tutted and made a fuss about having to move closer to the smaller mirror, spent ten minutes putting on makeup, and brushing her hair and sang along to the pop hits playing on the radio. The chirpy mid-morning presenter had to keep Rob company, as by the time Rob got to a main road Zara had fallen asleep.
Heading through a larger town, they were stopped in a traffic jam. After five minutes of sitting at a standstill, Zara awoke. She sang along to some songs and laughed at the jokes for ten minutes, then moaned about the slow traffic. Rob didn’t tell her that the road that was mentioned in the traffic update on the radio, with long delays expected, was the road they were on. He was grateful that her interest in the traffic announcements was so low she probably hadn’t listened anyway.
After an hour of sitting in traffic, Rob heard his stomach was growling at an increasing volume. Zara turned the radio up a bit more, and groaned, “Stop your stomach making that noise, it’s horrible.” With impeccable timing, her own stomach then growled loudly, and she grimaced. “That’s your fault. Your stomach noises, are making my stomach hungry!”
Rob smiled. “I think both of us might be a bit peckish. Should we get some food?”
Zara smiled widely as she nodded, and as the traffic eased, they headed off the main road and into a town centre. Spotting a chip shop as part of a small local shopping area, Rob pulled into a side street and parked up.
“Look, there’s a post office too, why don’t you bring that parcel with you and we can send it to who it belongs to. Do the right thing and I might even let you have some gravy.”
Zara didn’t say anything, but picked the parcel up from the floor as she got out of the car.
They headed towards the shops. Zara went to sit on the plastic seats as Rob went up to wait in the small queue. Zara watched eagerly as he got closer to the counter.
“Two small portions of chips, and a gravy please.” Rob asked. Zara stood quickly dropping the parcel onto the chair next to her, and raced towards the till.
“Whoa, hold up. Large please? Pretty please Rob?” The lady at the till looked curiously at Rob.
“Can I have a two large portions of chips, and two gravies please.” Rob asked.
Rob and Zara took the bag as soon as it was placed on the counter, grabbed a small wooden fork each and headed back to the car to eat.
***