Murder Club - Mark Pearson [49]
‘Will Detective Inspector Delaney be arrested?’
Hamilton shook his head. ‘No. He won’t be. At worst there will be a disciplinary hearing. He’s been served with a notice of investigation – that’s all.’
‘Good.’ Stephanie Hewson walked him to the front door and opened it. ‘All I want is justice, Detective.’
Hamilton looked at her for a moment and then nodded.
‘Welcome to the club,’ he said.
35.
IN THE INTENSIVE-CARE ward Delaney crumpled the plastic coffee cup he had just been drinking from and looked around for a bin to put it in. A young nurse who was passing held her hand out.
‘It’s all right, I’ll take it for you.’
‘Cheers, darling,’ Delaney said, flashing her a smile.
‘Any time,’ she said and carried on walking, swinging her hips a little more.
Sally Cartwright shook her head, pulling a face.
‘What?’ Delaney asked her. ‘What?’
‘Just my gender, sir. Sometimes I despair for it.’
‘What can I tell you? She’s a nurse. The caring profession, Sally. She sees a person in need and her natural instinct is to help him out.’
‘She sees a man in need, maybe. And I can imagine the kind of help she’d like to administer.’
‘Sally, I am a happily …’ He paused.
‘Were you about to say “married man”, sir?’
‘No, I was not.’
‘What were you going to say?’
‘As a happily partnered man, I have no interest in other women, Constable,’ he said, looking as the nurse pushed through the swing doors at the end of the corridor. ‘No matter how pretty they are.’
Sally punched him lightly on the arm. ‘I’ll tell Kate you said that!’
Delaney gave her a stern look. ‘Did you just strike a superior officer?’
Sally Cartwright grinned. ‘Yeah, I did.’
Delaney would have responded, but the doors swung open again and Dr Laura Chilvers walked down the corridor towards them. She had changed her outfit, and was now dressed in black trousers with a large red jumper and flat, sensible shoes. Her face was scrubbed of make-up and her hair was tied back. She looked about ten years younger to Delaney. She still had her coat on, but it was open and the flaps sailed behind her like a cloak as she hurried down the corridor.
‘How’s Bible Steve?’ she asked.
‘Not in good shape, Dr Chilvers.’
Laura carried on past them into the room. She picked up the medical chart at the base of the man’s bed. Delaney followed behind her.
‘What are you doing here, Laura?’
‘Sergeant Matthews told me what happened. I wanted to see for myself.’
‘We don’t know what happened yet.’
‘That he was hurt, I meant,’ she said, flustered, as the consultant registrar came into the room and took the chart from her hand.
‘Can I help you? What are you doing in here?’
‘I’m a doctor. Laura Chilvers. I’m with the police.’
‘Dr Chilvers is a police pathologist,’ Delaney confirmed.
‘I treated Mr …’ She gestured at the comatose man. ‘Bible Steve last night.’
‘Treated him? With what exactly?’
‘I didn’t mean treated him in that sense. He was brought into the police station. He was drunk. He had been urinating on the window of a Chinese restaurant. He passed out in front of it.’
‘So you didn’t give him any medication?’
‘No. He was drunk, that was all.’
‘But he was lucid when you released him?’
‘When the desk sergeant released him, yes. Well, as lucid as he ever is apparently.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He has mental-health issues, I am led to believe.’
‘You haven’t treated him before?’
‘He’s quite well known to us at the station, Dr Crabbe,’ said Delaney, flashing her a quick smile.
‘It’s Lily, please.’ She returned the smile.
Behind her, Sally Cartwright, who had followed the registrar in, rolled her eyes.
‘So what is the prognosis?’ Laura asked the smaller woman.
Dr Crabbe shrugged. ‘He’s stable. That’s all I can give you for now. You have read his notes.’
‘When do you think we will be able to speak to him?’ Delaney asked.
‘I am afraid, like I said earlier, it’s an “if”, not “when”, Detective.’
‘He’s comatose, Jack,’ agreed Laura. ‘It’s something we just can’t tell.’
‘He may never regain consciousness,’ agreed the registrar.
‘But he’s stable, you said,’ Delaney