We went down to 'cardboard city' on the Southbank. This is a place South of the  city near the river, where people without homes tend to spend the night laying on the concrete with some limited shelter from building over-hangs. A pretty girl, who couldn't have been older than 15, told us she'd seen a red-haired woman walking along the wall next to the River Thames. 

Me and Mol became really anxious. With Van's state of mind, and all boozed up and all, she might have jumped in or even fell into the icy waters below. 

The wind seemed to howl around the Shell-BP tower building, like the foreboding breath of death, as we walked up the river bank looking for the worst! 
 

We found nothing. We crossed over the river into the West End, and moved towards Soho. As we searched the shops, alleys, and bars - I stuck up little posters I'd made earlier on my PC. Each had a small photo of Vanessa, and a promise of 100 pounds reward if anyone phoned me to say where I could find her. 

As we left to go home, my mind was filled with an image of her walking along the Thames wall, bent on killing herself. I just prayed she was still alive! 
 
It was nearly a week and a half later - and a lifetime of worry and self-guilt -  when we got a call from someone looking to pick up the 100 pound reward. The caller said that a woman like the one in  the photograph was sleeping rough in a cemetery in Kennington.