Sue Reardon wearily made her way to her car. It was the end of a long day and the end of an even longer week and she couldn't wait to get back home. Not that she had an exciting weekend ahead. She had a stack of marking and some reports to do.
Opening her car boot, she placed her heavy work bag inside before closing it and walking to the drivers door.
As she opened the door, she caught sight of two children sitting on the school wall. They were dressed in the school uniform and Sue recognised the children although she didn't teach them. She glanced at her watch. It was after 5pm and she was worried that the children hadn't been picked up yet. Every other child had long since left.
"Are you two ok?" she asked as she approached the children. an older boy and his younger sister. "Has your mum not arrived yet?".
"No," replied the boy as he hugged his sister.
"Right," said Sue as she took charge. "Well come with me and we'll see if we can get hold of her. She's probably caught in traffic somewhere," she continued as she led the two children back in to the school building and in to the school secretary's office. "What is your surname?" she asked them as she opened the big drawer that held the contact details of all the pupils in the school.
"Tindall," the boy replied.
"Here we go," Sue said as she located the correct file. "You must be Nathan and this is Eleanor?" She continued as she read the documents inside.
"Yes," confirmed the boy.
"Your mother is called Claire?".
"Yes," replied the boy.
"Ok," Sue said before reaching for the phone and dialling the number in front of her. It took several rings before anyone answered. "Hello?" Sue said. "Is this Claire Tindall?".
"I'm answering her phone," was her reply.
"Oh right," replied Sue, thinking the answer was a little strange. "I was just wondering when she was coming to pick up Nathan and Eleanor? It's quite late now and everyone has nearly left for home,".
"Oh!" the voice said.
The person holding the phone was a junior female police officer who was attending the scene of a serious car accident. She had been handed the phone by a paramedic as it had started ringing during their resuscitation attempts at the side of the road.
The police officer saw the paramedics shake their heads sadly as their attempts at saving the person's life failed. They gently pulled a blanket up and over the female's body to obscure it from view.
The police officer's heart broke as she realised two children had just lost their mother. "Umm….somebody will be there shortly," was all she could think to say before hanging up the phone. "Sarge?" she said a little tearfully as she caught sight of her senior officer. "We've got a bit of a problem,".