Miss Pemberton's Secret

The train crash is an emergency in itself - but for two passengers, it is a critical moment...

- GLENDA YOUNG

It was the first accident that Britannia Bridge railway station had ever experienced. Everyone was in shock, passengers and train staff alike.

Jacob the train driver had to be helped from his seat, unable to comprehend what had happened. The brakes on his train had been checked that sunny morning in May, but they'd failed when he'd pull the train to a stop.

Instead of stopping the train, safe and steady at the platform, the engine had slowed but hadn't stopped. No matter how hard he applied the brakes, to his horror the train had collided with a stationary wagon.

The stationmaster's wife, Evelyn, threw her shawl around her shoulders and ran along the platform. All around, noise and confusion mixed with steam and heat of the train.

"Where is she?" Evelyn yelled when she saw her husband George.

George pointed to the first-class carriage at the front of the train.

"Anyone else hurt?" Evelyn called.

George shook his head.

"Thankfully, no. But folk are in shock." However, his words were lost as Evelyn flew into the first-class carriage looking for the woman who needed her help.

Inside the carriage the heavy brown curtains, usually so carefully tied to brass hooks at the windows, had been flung across seats. At the end of the carriage were a half dozen people crowded around the injured lady. Evelyn took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

"Nurse Evelyn Watson has arrived," she called out.

The small group of people turned at the sound of her voice. Evelyn's eyes fell on a young woman, not much older than her eldest daughter. She was clearly in pain, her face contorted with agony, her breath coming out of her quickly.

The woman's hair was long and dark, with curls cascading to her shoulders. There was something about the awkward way the woman was sitting in the seat that made Evelyn snap into gear.