Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy Page B

footsteps and for her to appear at the kitchen door, her face beaming with some story about her mum and then a hug for Alice. She would be deliberately upbeat, trying to take Alice’s mind off the newspapers and then she’d show Alice the meal she’d cooked, probably something special to make up for the rotten week they’d both had.
    As Alice pressed the iron’s face on to the board she felt an aching inside her for Rosie’s presence. Where was she? Why was she taking so long to come up the stairs? Footsteps sounded then, but not just Rosie’s. Someone else was coming as well. Was it Kathy come back for some reason? Seconds later she heard voices. It was Sara from down stairs. She was immediately irritated. Why was Sara always hanging round? Waiting to talk to her or Rosie, coming up and sitting in the kitchen as though she owned the place.
    “Look who I’ve brought back with me!” Rosie said, coming in through the kitchen door, her mouth in a sort of rictus smile that Sara couldn’t see from behind. Alice immediately softened. It wasn’t Rosie’s fault and Sara would probably be gone in a half an hour.
    “Hi, Alice. I’m glad I’ve caught you. I wanted to chat to both of you.”
    “Cup of tea?” Rosie said.
    “No.”
    Alice noticed something odd about Sara. She looked different. She was wearing a dark suit and not carrying a bag. In her hand was a set of keys, a big bunch as though she had lots of doors to open.
    “I think you both should sit down,” Sara said, in an odd bossy way.
    “What’s the matter?” Rosie said, looking from Sara back to Alice and then back again.
    Sara looked taller, that was it. Alice looked down at her feet and noticed her high-heeled shoes and light-coloured tights. The suit was fitted at the waist and made her look slimmer altogether. It looked expensive, she hadn’t seen her wear anything like that before.
    “You look smart,” Rosie said, pulling a chair out and sitting down. “Are you going somewhere nice?”
    “It might be a good idea to sit down, Alice,” Sara said, ignoring Rosie’s question. Sara said it in a tone of voice that suggested she was used to being obeyed. Maybe she wasn’t such a bad teacher as she made out to be. Alice bent down and switched the iron off at the plug and then pulled out a chair to sit beside Rosie. She glanced over at the kitchen clock. It had just gone six. She hoped Sara wouldn’t be long.
    “What’s this all about?” Rosie said, raising her eyebrows, giving Sara a pleasant smile.
    Sara didn’t sit down. She had her hands clasped behind her and looked as though she was going to make a speech. Alice had a sudden bad feeling about it.
    “I may as well be completely straight with you. My name is Sara Wright and I work for a Sunday newspaper. A couple of months ago we had a tip-off that Jennifer Jones had been released early and was living in South London. Through some other contacts we were able to pinpoint a number of teenage girl placements in this area and it didn’t take long to find out which of them was Jennifer—”
    “What?” Rosie spluttered. “You’re from the news - papers?”
    Alice looked from Rosie to Sara and then back again. Rosie’s expression was of total disbelief. Her hand shot sideways and grabbed Alice’s arm. Sara looked a little uncomfortable but rushed ahead as though she had a lot of words to get out in a short time.
    “When we were sure that Jennifer Jones had been placed here we made plans to investigate the situation. I rented the flat downstairs and have spent the last six weeks or so collecting information.”
    “You’ve been spying on us?” Rosie said.
    Alice couldn’t speak. She looked at Sara without blinking. Her eyes felt like stones, ready to drop out if she wasn’t careful.
    “The newspaper I work for is a quality journal. When we knew that Jennifer was living here we decided not to make a splash of it. We decided to wait and go for a more analytical approach. We wanted to