A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [61]
When she saw a policeman in the hall with Frank she clasped a hand over her mouth in horror. ‘Is it Dan?’ she asked.
‘It’s okay, Mrs Reynolds,’ the policeman said, coming up a few stairs to meet her. ‘I just called to tell you that your husband was taken to St James’s Hospital last night. Someone attacked him.’
‘Who attacked him? Is he badly hurt?’ Fifi asked, all at once feeling sick with fright.
There wasn’t much more the policeman could tell her as he hadn’t seen Dan himself, he was only passing on the message the local police had been given.
‘But his injuries can’t be very serious or the hospital would’ve asked us to call on you last night to take you to your husband,’ he said soothingly. ‘So don’t get all worked up, Mrs Reynolds, I expect they only kept him in overnight for observation.’
He went on to tell her where the hospital was in Tooting, and suggested she phoned before going there to check if they wanted her to bring anything with her, like clean clothes or pyjamas. Then, after apologizing for giving her such a shock, he said he had to go back on his beat.
Fifi burst into tears after he’d gone and Frank took her into his kitchen to give her a cup of tea.
Both Fifi and Dan had come to like Frank a great deal. He always greeted them warmly when they came home, he’d give Fifi little bunches of flowers from his garden, and he took her milk in every day and put it in her fridge so it wouldn’t turn sour. He was obviously lonely with his only daughter and her family in Australia, but he never made a nuisance of himself. He just took a friendly and kindly interest in them, and if they asked him up for a cup of tea, or bought him a drink at the pub, he was always delighted to accept, but never outstayed his welcome.
‘Why would anyone attack Dan?’ Fifi sobbed out. ‘Every-one likes him. He isn’t a troublemaker.’
Frank put his arms around her and comforted her. ‘It must have been robbery, I suppose. But a bloke like Dan wouldn’t have been my choice to rob, he’s young, fit and strong.I’d have gone for an easier target.’
‘They wouldn’t have found anything on him worth stealing,’ Fifi said tearfully. ‘He never has any money left by Thursday, he doesn’t even wear a watch.’
Frank was still in his dressing-gown too, so Fifi drank her tea, then said she was going to get dressed so she could go and phone the hospital.
‘Want me to come with you?’ Frank asked. ‘You look a bit shaky to me.’
‘I’ll be fine once I know he’s all right,’ she said. ‘But thank you for being so kind.’
Frank patted her on the shoulder. ‘Come and tell me how he is when you get back. I could make you a bit of breakfast.’
‘The ward sister said he’s quite comfortable,’ Fifi told Frank when she got back from the phone. ‘He got a blow to the back of his head and another in the ribs. The police are going to talk to him this morning to find out what happened.’
‘You’ll take the day off then?’ Frank asked. ‘Would you like me to ring your office at nine and explain for you?’
His fatherly manner was touching. He’d dressed and shaved while she was making the phone call, and he smelled of soap and toothpaste. He’d already laid the table for breakfast for them both in his tiny kitchen, and with the back door open and a huge pot of colourful petunias right outside it, it felt very homely and comforting.
‘I can do that on the way to the hospital,’ Fifi said. ‘They only allow visiting between two and three and five and six, but maybe if I go there with his pyjamas they’ll let me see him straight away.’
‘So they’re keeping him in then?’
Fifi nodded. ‘Yes, the sister said they have to monitor him for brain damage as he was knocked unconscious. But he can’t be that badly hurt. She said Dan made a joke about how they’ll have to check he’s got a brain first.’
Frank smiled. ‘I can just hear him saying that. He’s the kind that finds summat funny in everything. You know he’s even charmed Miss Diamond, don’t you? She knocked before she went to work because she’d heard the policeman earlier. Upset she was! Said