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Platform Seven

Louise Doughty
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Landing Page
  3. Platform Seven
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. PART ONE
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. PART TWO
  12. 4
  13. 5
  14. 6
  15. PART THREE
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. PART FOUR
  20. 10
  21. 11
  22. 12
  23. 13
  24. 14
  25. PART FIVE
  26. 15
  27. 16
  28. 17
  29. PART SIX
  30. 18
  31. 19
  32. 20
  33. PART SEVEN
  34. 21
  35. 22
  36. 23
  37. 24
  38. 25
  39. Acknowledgements
  40. About the Author
  41. By the Same Author
  42. Copyright

Cover

cover

Landing Page

alt

LOUISE DOUGHTY

Platform Seven

Dedication

For
Andrea Levy

Epigraph

Your body is a star,

Unto my thought.

But stars are not too far

And can be caught –

Small pools their prisons are.

‘Song’, ISAAC ROSENBERG

Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. Part Two
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. Part Three
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. Part Four
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. Part Five
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. Part Six
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. Part Seven
  31. 21
  32. 22
  33. 23
  34. 24
  35. 25
  36. Acknowledgements
  37. About the Author
  38. Also by the Author
  39. Copyright

PART ONE

1

It is 4 a.m. The station is empty but I’m not alone. I’m never alone.

There are the others, and now there is the man.

No one has seen him yet, apart from me.

*

It is black at this hour but the security lights throw a stark white glow across all seven platforms. Every now and then a freight train passes through and the air is filled with a slow screech and rumble: then all falls quiet again, the silence broken only by the squabble of a couple of pigeons on Platform Five.

On the ground between Platforms Two and Three a lone fox, small and silky, trots along the tracks. It pauses and angles its snout to sniff the freezing air before leaping up onto Platform Two in a relaxed and nimble fashion. As it passes beneath a light, its pelt glows chestnut, briefly, before it disappears into the dark.

Two cleaners wander from platform to platform in bright orange trousers and jackets, checking all is in order before the early commuters arrive. In the Duty Team Leader’s office, the Customer Services Manager and a security guard sip tea while they watch the CCTV screens. Peterborough Railway Station may be empty at night but it never sleeps, not really. The last London-bound train doesn’t leave until 23.47, although if you want to get to Edinburgh you have to be out of here on the 20.16 latest. Going east, there is the 21.18 to Stansted and westward the 21.59 to Birmingham. Peterborough Station sits in the middle of England like a spider at the centre of its web and like a spider it is always alert to movement, even when it appears hunched and still.

The first London-bound service departs at 03.25 so the station is only closed to the public for a little over three hours. The Customer Services Assistant leaves after the final train but the Customer Services Manager is on duty all night. Often, a freight train will pull up on Platform Seven so that they can change drivers – there’s a depot at the back of the station. Freight comes and goes at any time, of course.

*