Page 77 of My Heart to Find

“What?”

“I do know someone. River Charles. Uh, she’s friends with Jana. Well, used to be friends with her. And with me too...” Her voice has gone flat.

“What is it?” I ask.

Cara looks down. The screen flickers. “Uh, she’s been quite mean to me. About me being ill. And it sounds stupid. I’m twenty-five, I shouldn’t let this affect me. But she’s been spreading stuff about me.”

I lean forward, my heart beating quicker. “What kind of stuff?”

Cara shrugs a little. “Just saying that I’m faking being ill. About a month ago, she and some others kept tagging me in stuff on Facebook. Stuff that implied I was making it all up. You know, things about people playing the benefits system, stuff like that. They were quite mean. Said I was just a boring sick girl who wasn’t actually physically sick. Just sick in the head to want to trick people.”

My breath freezes in my throat. “What? That’s... oh, God. Cara, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry.” I frown. “And Jana’s still friends with this person?”

Cara clasps her hands together. “Well, until the other day. It was amazing really. Like, River had a go at me. I was at Jana’s place, and River had a go at me, but Jana just kicked off. I’ve never heard her do that before—but she threw River out.”

“Wow.” I blink. I can totally imagine Jana doing that though. That woman’s fiery. But then I feel bad for the way I treated her—because I did lead her on, didn’t I? “Well, we won’t ask River for technical help,” I say, wanting to move the focus away from Jana. “I mean, maybe the police will release the call to us?”

“Maybe.” Cara shrugs.

“Anyway, shall we run through the script?” I ask. It’s a practice script, one I wrote last night. A rough kind of introductory piece.

Cara nods. “Sure. It won’t take long, will it? I need to get to Boots to pick up my NHS prescription.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “And I can meet you there, if you want?”

“Uh, yeah, okay. But I’m not feeling that well so I don’t know if I’ll be up for anything.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I just want to see you. That’s all. I can walk you back home.”

She smiles, and it’s the kind of smile that eats me up inside. “Let’s get on with this podcast then.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Jana

ISTARE AROUND MY EMPTYliving room. River has taken the sofas. The men—no idea who they actually were—only left a few minutes ago, carrying the sofas between them. Four strapping guys. They said River had sent them to pick up the rest of her stuff.

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