Skinner's ordeal

I was always up and about early, waiting for him to surface, If he was taking too long I'd go into his room to waken him up. I used to shake him as hard as a seven-year-old could, but I couldn't budge him. He just lay there like a log. I knew he was pretending, but he could always wait me out.' She grinned. Eventually, though, I found the answer.'

`What was that?'

I used to tickle the soles of his feet.' She reached down towards the foot of the bed, and slipped her free hand under the cover.

`Don't you bloody dare!'

It was a fuzzy, indistinct mumble, but it was intelligible. Alex and Sarah gasped in unison, rising to their feet. Bob's eyelashes flickered, ten, perhaps fifteen times, but at last his eyes opened. The women gazed down at him, struck dumb by their relief, until at last, Sarah leaned over him and kissed his forehead.

`Welcome back, my darling,' she whispered, her eyes swimming.

Alex sat back in her chair, hard, held his hand to her face and cried big, salt tears of relief.

`What happened?' Bob croaked. 'Heart attack?'

Sarah looked down at him in surprise. 'Heart attack? You? No way.'

Wh' was it then? Don' remember.'

`You were jogging, darling, and you were attacked. You were stabbed. We've been worried about you for a while, but you're going to be all right.'

He smiled up at her and shook his head, weakly. 'Not jogging. Never jog. Running.'

She laughed. 'I stand corrected.'

He tried to speak again, but coughed, wincing in sudden pain.

‘Easy, easy,’ Sarah.

‘throats sore’

`That's because you've had a tube down it for a day and a half. It'll ease. Want to try a sip of water?'

He nodded. She filled a glass from the jug at the bedside and held it to his mouth. He drank greedily, flicking his tongue over his lips to moisten them.

'A day and a half,' he whispered. 'That's how long I've been out of it?'

Sarah nodded. 'You've been under sedation since your operation. Standard recovery procedure.'

`What was the damage?'

'A pierced lung and a nicked artery. Other than that you're fine’

He laughed faintly. 'Aye, I feel just great. Stabbed, eh. Of the two, I think I prefer being shot.'

Alex looked up at Sarah in astonishment. Like her father's colleagues, she had been told the alternative version of that chapter from his past. 'Let's hope you never have to make the comparison for real,' said his wife, trying to cover his gaffe.

Bob squeezed his daughter's hand. 'Hi, Babe. How're you doing?'

She smiled at him, her face still streaked with tears. 'Fine, now,' she said. 'Oh God, we were so worried about you.' She lifted his hand off the bed and pressed it to her moist cheek. As she did so, the diamonds on her finger sparkled with reflected light.

`Hey,' said Bob. 'What's this?'

She stared at him, startled. 'My engagement ring. Remember, we unveiled it on Saturday night.'

A shadow of confusion crossed his face. 'No,' he said, in the faintest of whispers. 'I don't remember.' He stared up at Sarah, frowning. ‘What bloody day is this?'

She sat down on the edge of the bed. 'It's Tuesday. You were attacked early on Monday morning. But don't worry, honey. Traumatic amnesia is quite common. What's the last thing you can recall?'

He shook his head, frustrated.

Okay then, tell me about the last meal you ate.'

He knitted his brow. 'Fresh pasta with a bacon, mushroom and tomato sauce,' he whispered. 'Chocolate mousse to follow. A bottle of Tyrell's Long Flat Red between us.'

`That was on Thursday,' Sarah said. 'A long time back, but don't let it worry you. You did have a pretty severe trauma. The memory gaps will fill up before too long.'

The corner of his mouth twisted. 'I don't know if I want them to. Here, did they get the bastards that knifed me?'

‘Yup. Charged with attempted murder.'

`Pity. That means I won't get my hands on them.'

She laughed. 'You did already! But don't let's talk about that. Not yet anyway. You just relax and concentrate on getting better. You're still a sick puppy, you know.'

`Yes, Doc. Very good, Doc.' He tried to shift his position, and a spasm of pain crossed his face. 'Christ, I believe you.'

She reached out and touched his face. 'Easy now. They gave you quite a mauling in surgery. We'll get you some painkillers now you're awake.'

I'm not going to burst open again, am I?'

`No, not now. There's been no sign of any more bleeding, so I reckon the arterial repair will be secure already. But you'll be in here for a while yet. Your body has to have time, and rest, to recover.'

He looked at her mournfully. 'If you say so.' Suddenly his face lit up. 'Hey, how's James Andrew Skinner?'

`Jazz is fine. I'll bring him to see you in a couple of days, when we've got you sitting up.'

`That's good. I miss the wee chap'

And he misses you, I think,' said Alex. 'Andy picked him up this morning, and his face lit up. But then he saw it wasn't you and he started to cry.'

Bob grinned at the thought, then gasped as another image of a baby flashed for an instant, unbidden, across his mind. 'What is it?' said Alex anxiously.

`Nothing,' he murmured. 'Just a memory flash' Laboriously he reached up and tapped his head. 'All sorts of stuff going on in there, you know.'

`Yeah,' said Sarah. 'What was going through your mind when you were unconscious? In theory there shouldn't have been anything.'

`Can't remember that either.'

`Nothing at all?'

He paused, staring up at the ceiling. 'Yes. I remember someone holding my hand. And perfume. Are either of you wearing perfume?'

I am,' said Alex.

`Then I remember that. Back in there…' he tapped his head once more.. I remember the smell of your perfume. Chanel No. 5 — I'd know it anywhere'

Alex looked at him, puzzled. 'Your nose must be affected aswell, in that case. You might know Chanel anywhere, but like always, I'm wearing Rive Gauche!'

SIXTY

‘He bloody what?' Adam Arrow's eyebrows shot halfway up his high forehead.

`He said "No", Adam. The Prime Minister won't release the file on Davey.'

`Not even when he heard where the request came from?' Andy Martin shook his head.

I know that Kercheval character,' said Arrow. 'Bob might get on with 'im, but from what I've seen he's a real MI5 traditionalist. Know what I mean? Sees himself as the cream of the crop, and all the rest of us as bungling semi-pros, not to be trusted with the real stuff.

I wonder if he mentioned to anyone that the request for Davey's file came from Bob.'

There was a grim look in the little soldier's eyes. Wrinkles showed as they narrowed. Did he say anything else to the lads?'

`No. Only that the file was under wraps.

`So they were wasting their time all along.'

A faint smile played around the corners of Martin's mouth.

`Not quite,' he murmured. 'He's not as smart as he thinks, is our man Kercheval.'

`No, he ain't,' said Joe Doherty, leaning back in his chair, grinning. 'I know him too.

He's not so much a spook, more Caspar the Friendly Ghost.'

Are you two going to let the rest of us in on the secret?' Arrow growled. Beside him, Merle Gower sat staring at Doherty: but beyond her, out of the soldier's line of vision, the light of comprehension was dawning in Maggie Rose's expression as she grasped the same implication that had occurred to her colleagues.

`Well,' said Doherty. ‘For openers, he admitted to the guys from the start that there is a file on Davey. If he had told them that he'd have to find out whether one existed or not, he'd have left his options open. But being Kercheval he couldn't pass up a chance to impress two cops by letting them see that he's the sort of important guy who knows where the most important bodies are buried.'