‘So. Third programme? The one about pets?’
Lauren grinned. ‘My favourite so far. “A Man’s Best Friend”. It’s progressing nicely. We’ve an abundance of material.’
‘We have lots of touching tales of people who were in hospital but reunited with their pets in their last weeks. Some of the clips have brought a tear to my eye,’ said Gary. ‘Many people who have guide dogs and rely on them. And there’s a fascinating story about a man whose cat alerted him to a poisonous leak, carbon monoxide. The cat saved his life by patting his cheek until he woke up.’
‘And there’s a dog that dived in, rescued a drowning boy and pulled him to safety,’ said Lauren. ‘And some dogs can apparently smell illness or when their owner needs insulin. Another story is of a dog who ran to a child and knocked him out the way of a poisonous snake.’
‘Or the one about a man in a car crash. His dog managed to get out of the car and went to alert a neighbour,’ said Gary. ‘Another about a Scottish farmer who was attempting to relocate a dairy cow and her calf to a different paddock one afternoon. The territorial mum began attacking the farmer, rushing up to him and knocking him to the ground. Just when the farmer thought he was about to be smashed by the big cow, his horse marched up and kicked the cow away.’
‘This programme’s going to be a tear-jerker,’ I said. ‘Can we use all those stories?’
‘As many as we can. It’s going to be hard to choose because they’re all—’
Lauren and I chorused. ‘TV gold.’
‘After all the feel-good stuff, we need a contrast for the next one, which is why I thought it could be about the downside of friendship,’ I said. ‘What have the researchers come up with so far about how friends can hurt as well as heal, Lauren? Murder? Espionage? Betrayal? Revenge?’
‘We’re still working on that one,’ Lauren replied. ‘Oh, there’s plenty out there, but not so many people willing to stand up in public and talk about it. A number of them are musicians who were in bands together, then one moved on, the friendship broken; but, as I say, some are reluctant to discuss it on camera. One possibility is Jojo Manning, who back in the day was an Emmy-award-winning singer-songwriter. She retired from the public eye over twenty years ago but still has a strong base of fans and followers.’
‘What’s the story?’
‘Agent and friend swiped all her money.’
‘No!’
‘There are also a few examples of people using social media to destroy friendships, hate mail, nasty tweets,’ said Lauren. ‘Cyber-bullying is a big thing now, particularly prevalent in schools. Teenage girls can be really mean to each other, and of course now the internet allows them to do that anonymously.’
‘I think that’s a definite,’ I said. ‘Friendships are so important when you’re young, the need to fit in, be liked, but kids can be vicious to each other. It would be good to cover bullying with some positive input from counsellors or anti-bullying groups on how to deal with it.’
‘And programme five?’
‘Also still in development. Friends of different religions, cultures, politics. Not decided yet. Then, of course, programme six with your good self.’
‘I have been thinking about something else too. If there was a list of rules for friendship, it might help some friendships stay on track. Some dos and don’ts if you like.’
‘Do you mean a handbook, something tangible?’ Gary asked.
‘Maybe, I’m not sure yet. But real advice, practical things friends can do for each other.’
‘I like your thinking.’ Gary seemed to be mulling it over. ‘It could be an amalgam of everything learnt from the programme … So, back to the search for Mitch?’
‘I need a bit more time. So far, we’ve not got anywhere.’
‘Let us help,’ said Lauren, ‘if you give me everything you have about your friend, I can get the team on to it and … don’t dismiss the psychics. We wouldn’t be doing a séance to find Mitch, just seeing if any of them could give us an idea of what country she’s in, that sort of thing.’
‘Just what I’d been thinking,’ I said.
Lauren laughed. ‘See, we’re psychic ourselves.’
‘Could be fun,’ said Gary. ‘See what your friends think.’
‘Oh, I know already. Jo would love it. Ally will pronounce it rubbish.’
‘You wouldn’t have to go yourself,’ said Lauren. ‘I could get one of the researcher team to go.’
‘Tell you what; I’ll see if Jo would like to come along. She likes all that stuff and it might just swing things to get her on board.’
‘Can we film it?’
I grimaced. ‘She’s not said yes yet. Give me some more time.’
Chapter Sixteen
Mitch
Summer 1974
Back in London, I never gave up looking for Jack’s band in the music papers, but it was as if they had disappeared off the planet. Then, one day in July, I was looking through Time Out and there it was, a piece announcing that Black Rose would be on tour in the UK. The boys were back in town.
I took note of where and when the next gig was and, when the day came, I headed off there. They were playing at The Forum in Kentish Town, a venue I knew well.
When I got there, I asked the man in the ticket office if I could speak to one of the band. He laughed in my face. ‘You buy a ticket like everyone else if you want to see them,’ he said, before directing me to the back of the queue.
I bought a ticket, got inside and waited. A warm-up band came on, did their set and then on came Black Rose. I felt a rush of anticipation. Lou, Barry, Jon … no Jack. How could that be? Jack had started the band with Lou. Could there have been a falling out? The band struck up their first number and a man with ginger hair was playing bass. Why isn’t Jack playing
