Then she’s upstairs with the case on her bed, looking online at the weather in London and packing appropriately. And she’s running back downstairs to kiss her husband and thank him again and share some coffee and ask him how his day has been.

And she says, ‘I’m so excited.’

And he says, ‘It’s going to be such a big surprise.’

Then they’re at the airport and kissing goodbye at the gate and she’s waving her ticket at him and smiling still and he is heading back home for a beer.

And with all that intuition and grasp, a message to say that she was on her way may have brightened the mood of 234 – Witness, but it wouldn’t have changed anything.

Then she lands at Heathrow and collects her bag and her mobile phone provider sends an automatic text to inform her of how much she will be charged for making calls and using data overseas.

Then the icon lights up to tell her that she finally has reception.

Then six missed calls.

Two from the university.

Four from her husband.

68

234–235 – WITNESSES

We don’t have to stop moving.

Or speak to one another.

Or arrange the direction we will face.

We just know.

For we are The People of Choice, the ones now with courage.

And we choose not to fear.

It has been fourteen days since our train was delayed, stranded above the water, an inopportune moment to prophesise our own fates.

We watched them jump.

Nine people, the same as us, each of them given the choice between life and death.

Leading the way.

Our journeys are long and solitary. We walk on opposite sides of the Thames, both heading east to Blackfriars Bridge, where our paths cross. We pass each other but there is no need to stop, or converse. We just know.

We trade riverfronts for the final stretch of our journey to give ourselves a different viewpoint; plenty of time still to back out. We each count the steps as we round onto Millennium Bridge, one at the north end, one at the south. This is how we know where to meet.

There are plenty of people around us; many using the bridge to cross to the gallery or cathedral. Enough people will see it. They will experience things in the same way that we did. They could join. They could be next. We are recruiters.

We are everywhere.

It’s growing.

We step onto the bridge. Neither will make it to the opposite end.

It is quick and fluid. We do not meet in the centre of the bridge because there are too many obstacles. Steel design flourishes, cables, all hindering our descent. People have tried jumping from this bridge before but the lattice structure around the outside, in the centre, gives them long enough to have a second thought.

We cannot risk that.