Girl Alone: Joss came home from school to discover her father’s suicide. Angry and hurting, she’s out of control. by Cathy Glass

and also find some better friends who were more her age. Ever optimistic, I began to allow myself to hope that maybe she meant what she said this time and her behaviour would improve in future.
    Linda had said that Eric would be out of the house until one o’clock, so I assumed Joss would leave when he arrived. Allowing time for her to walk to the bus stop plus the thirty-minute journey home, I was expecting her to return to me by two o’clock. When she hadn’t arrived by three o’clock, I telephoned Linda.
    ‘Joss left two hours ago,’ Linda said. ‘As soon as Eric walked in. She said she was going to see Chelsea. I asked her if that was all right with you and she told me you’d said it was, as long as she was back by ten-thirty tonight.’
    ‘What!’ I cried. ‘That isn’t what I said at all. Just the opposite, in fact. I told her she had to come straight home after she’d seen you. She knows she has homework to do.’
    ‘Sorry,’ Linda said. ‘I should have checked with you first.’
    ‘It’s not your fault. I should have collected her in the car. I didn’t think it would be necessary. She promised me she’d mend her ways.’
    ‘She always does,’ Linda said despondently. ‘I don’t think she can help herself. Do you know Chelsea?’
    ‘I’ve met her once, although I do know where she lives.’
    ‘I got the impression Joss was going to her place. She said they had to keep off the streets and not get into more trouble with the police.’
    ‘At least she listened to that part of my lecture,’ I said. ‘Pity she didn’t listen to the rest. I think I might go to Chelsea’s flat and bring Joss home. She needs to understand she can’t do whatever she wants whenever she pleases.’
    ‘That’s good of you,’ Linda said. Then I heard a man’s voice in the background and, lowering her voice, Linda said, ‘Eric says Joss needs a damn good smack. But I’ve never hit my children. Steven and I were against it.’
    ‘So am I,’ I said. ‘There are better ways to discipline a child. And foster carers aren’t allowed to smack children. I’ll go now and see if Joss is at Chelsea’s flat. Shall I phone you when I return?’
    ‘Yes, please. I am grateful. Thank you so much, Cathy.’
    I felt there was little to thank me for.

Chapter Eight
Out of Patience
    Adrian and Lucy were both out that Saturday afternoon; Adrian was playing tennis and Lucy was shopping with some friends. I explained to Paula that I was going out to try to find Joss. I asked her if she wanted to come with me and wait in the car or stay at home. She said she’d stay at home, so I left her sitting on the bench in the garden reading a book with Toscha curled up beside her.
    I knew where Chelsea’s flat was from when I’d given her a lift home from the cinema – assuming she and Joss had told me the truth as to where Chelsea lived. To be honest, Joss had told me so many lies I now doubted much of what she said, and I thought that as they’d given me a false name for Chelsea, perhaps they’d also given me a false address. But I would try it. Joss needed to see I was serious about the boundaries I was putting in place and that when I said something, I meant it. The worse that could happen was that Chelsea didn’t live in the flat, in which case I’d apologize to the occupants for disturbing them, and then perhaps I’d drive around some of Joss’s favourite haunts – Maple Park and outside the shopping centre, for example – and see if I could spot her.
    I pulled in to the kerb and parked where there was a space a little way from the parade of shops. The night I’d dropped off Chelsea I hadn’t seen a front entrance to the flat, but Joss had told me it was at the rear, up a fire escape. I got out of the car, walked round the end of the building and immediately saw the flight of stairs she meant. Taking the handrail, I made my way up, my shoes echoing on the metal steps. At the top of the stairs there was a landing, which