Something tied a ragged knot in my chest.
The nurse picked a clipboard from the rack by the room’s door. ‘They managed to put her left leg back together, and she’ll probably lose some function in her right arm, but the big thing was the ruptured spleen and liver damage. We’ll have to wait till she wakes up to find out if the fractured skull has caused any... complications.’ She patted my arm. ‘Alice is getting the best possible care, I promise.’
‘Thank you.’ It came out strangled.
‘Give me a shout if you need anything, OK?’ And with that she was gone.
Shifty joined me at the window, hissing it out: ‘Where the buggering wank have you been?’
‘Who did it?’
‘We thought you were dead: they fished your car out the Cromarty Firth!’
‘Shifty, I swear to God, either you tell me who hit her, or I’ll—’
‘We don’t know, OK? An auld wifie found her lying at the side of Glensheilth Crescent in Kingsmeath and called it in.’ He rested his forehead against the glass. ‘I’ve got people going through every piece of CCTV footage in the area, but there’s no cameras where it happened.’
‘Why the hell did you let her go out there on her own?’
‘I didn’t “let her” anything! She’s on your LIRU, team; you think I’d have let this happen if I was in charge?’
No. This was Superintendent Jacobson’s fault.
Kingsmeath. She was knocked down in Kingsmeath — where she’d said the child murderer, Gòrach, came from. Where he felt comfortable. And she was off interviewing possible witnesses that Jacobson had either ignored or discounted. What if one of them was Gòrach? What if he’d run her over, because she’d got too close?
‘Ash, are you OK? Only you look—’
‘Where are her things?’
It took some doing, Shifty’s warrant card, and a couple of threats, but finally the hospital handed over the big plastic bag containing everything Alice had on her when she arrived.
The scent of sandalwood and disinfectant mingled with the flat, slightly plasticy taint of recycled hospital air.
They’d cut her clothes off, most of them stained almost black with blood. Those little red trainers of hers torn along one side. I went through her pockets, slow and careful, like I’d done with Helen. Car keys; wallet; the Danger Mouse watch I’d given her for Christmas two years ago; a crumpled bunch of receipts, the print almost impossible to read in the low light; three pounds seventy-five in change, a wodged-up paper hanky; a small packet of dog treats; lipstick, mascara, and a tube of foundation; and last, but not least — her official LIRU-issue mobile phone.
Same kind that I’d been given.
Meaning that unlocking it was as easy as holding her cold pale index finger to the sensor on the back.
It buzzed and let me in.
Alice’s app management wasn’t nearly as tidy as Helen’s — about two dozen filled the screen, almost totally obscuring the backdrop. Alice and Henry and me, at the Sands of Forvie, all three of us grinning away at the camera, as if nothing bad ever happened and no one had to die...
I swiped through to the security settings and added my right index fingerprint to the authorised list. Tapping the sensor till the light went green.
A knock at the window.
It was the nurse who’d shown me where Alice was, pointing at her watch and mouthing ‘Time!’ at me through the glass.
The phone went in my pocket. Then I leant forward, brushed a stray lock of hair from the unbandaged half of Alice’s forehead, and placed a kiss on her brow — soft and gentle, the skin so cold and clammy against my lips. The lingering taste of iodine and salt. ‘I’ll find who did this to you, I promise. I’ll find them, and I’ll make them wish they’d never slithered down their mother’s leg.’ One more kiss, and I stood. Nodded. Turned. And hobbled from the room.
The nurse closed the door, soon as I was outside. ‘We’ll be in touch if there’s any change.’
‘Thank you.’ I thrust the plastic bag into Shifty’s arms. ‘Get the car. We’ve got work to do.’
Shifty steered with his left shoulder up, head tilted to the side, pinning his mobile to his ear as he drove the pool car along Kings Drive, heading for the Calderwell Bridge. ‘Uh-huh. Soon as you can... Yup.’
Outside, the traffic puttered along, cars and buses, taxis and lorries, people staggering by in the ten o’clock haze of an evening’s alcohol. Happy and ignorant.
‘Yeah... Think so... OK, I’ll tell him... OK, thanks, bye... Bye.’ Shifty straightened his head, left hand disengaging from the gearstick and popping back in time to catch the phone before it hit his lap. Slick and practised. ‘Voodoo’s going through all the ANPR footage for Kingsmeath, including all routes in and out. Maybe we’ll get the bastard coming or going?’ He nodded to himself. ‘And I’ve stuck a lookout request on Alice’s wee jeep. Mind you, if it’s been parked in Kingsmeath since lunchtime, might’ve been nicked and broken down for parts by now. Or joyridden and torched.’ He loosened his tie another couple of inches. ‘So, are you going to tell me what happened to you, or not?’
‘Long story.’
‘And does it explain why you’re wearing that denim-jacket abomination and smell like a hippy’s squat on bong night?’
We passed a man being taken for a drag by an Alsatian nearly twice as big as he was.
Oh no...
‘Where’s Henry?’ Can’t believe I’d forgotten all about the little lad. ‘Is he OK? Who’s got him?’
‘Can we not worry about your bloody dog right now? We need—’
‘What if he got run down too? If Alice wakes up and he’s dead, it’ll break her heart.’
‘Well... maybe he’s back at the flat? Maybe she didn’t take him with her, today?’
Not likely. Worth checking, though. ‘Can you send someone round?’
Shifty’s mouth clamped shut. Hopefully to stop him saying something stupid that would get his jaw broken. Then a sigh. ‘I’ll give Rhona a call.’ Scrolling through his contacts as we wheeched through a pedestrian crossing.
Not exactly safe driving for a man with only one eye.
He did the shoulder-ear pinning thing again. ‘Rhona? It’s me... No, no change. Listen, I need a favour — you know the flat on Shand Street, Ash and Alice are staying in?... Yeah... Shut up for a minute, OK? I need you to get the keys from whoever’s got them, go round and check if Henry’s there... Yes, Henry the dog... Just do it, Rhona. Please... Thank you.’ He dropped the phone from his shoulder, caught it, and slipped it back into his jacket. ‘You happy now?’
‘Not even vaguely.’ I scrolled through the calendar on Alice’s mobile. ‘She’s got a bunch of appointments down for today. When did the call come in?’
‘Now you’re asking.’ Shifty pouted, frowning. ‘Half past one, twenty to two, maybe? Have to check my notes to be sure.’ Up ahead, the 142 to Blackwall Hill pulled out without indicating and Shifty slammed on the brakes, leaning on the horn — long and hard. ‘ARSEHOLE!’
Half one. So while I was lying at the bottom of that bloody pit, garrotted and left for dead...
The bus driver stuck his hand out the window in what started as a cheery wave, and ended with nothing but the middle finger extended.
‘Cheeky bastard.’ Shifty followed the bus through a pedestrian crossing. ‘Got a good mind to stick on the lights and music. Pull him over. See how he likes that.’
There were four appointments in Alice’s calendar before noon. Half a dozen after it.
No point looking at anything after two o’clock.