by Ali Carter
“Strange that Jenny should want to see you anyway though Molly isn’t it?” said Andrew puzzled; “Do you think it was to do with your relationship with Jason? I mean we haven’t actually touched on the fact that Jenny texted you one minute and the next thing you know is you’re fighting for your life!” There was quiet in the room then as all three absorbed what Andrew had just implied.
“Jenny Flood is new around here,” exclaimed Gina, eyes wide now as she looked at Andrew, “and you work with her every day!”
“But she was with Miles when the third murder took place, remember?” Molly pointed this out very calmly, but was secretly relieved she’d remembered it. Apart from obviously not wanting Andrew to be in any danger, she didn’t relish the idea that Jason’s sister could be a murderess. He may be schizophrenic, but she felt certain of his innocence and hoped that when back on his meds properly something might come of their relationship. She didn’t need his sister being a whole other personality too.
“Maybe we’d just better forget the whole thing.” Gina was looking at Andrew now, her eyes pleading with him.
“No way!” Molly interjected, “don’t even consider that for one minute! Look – just because we hit a bit of a glitch that’s no reason…”
“A glitch – a glitch?! Are you crazy girl?!” Gina had leapt off the bed now and was pacing up and down the hospital room, her red hair flying this way and that as tears filled her eyes. “You nearly died Molly Fields, do you realise that?!”
“Exactly – it was me who nearly met ‘Granny gone over’, not you! Therefore I get to make the decision on whether we keep going or not. If we do stop searching for the killer I don’t want it to be because of this!” She waved her hands wildly backwards and forwards over the bed. Gina was now looking at Andrew expectantly, exasperated at having to wait for his support. She had never been in full agreement with their amateur sleuthing, obviously now, she thought, he will put an end to this.
“Molly, maybe we…” he started lamely;
“No Andy! Not because of me! I won’t be the reason for quitting, and I won’t be sidelined either.” Andrew looked up at his girlfriend who was now standing opposite the bed hands on hips, eyes flashing and tears brimming. His ‘you know what Molly’s like’ expression, resulted in her throwing her hands skyward, and emanating what could only be described as an incensed guttural screech. Molly and Andy both glanced at the window next to the door as Nurse Bradshaw paused on her way past with eyebrows lifted at the raised voices. Molly smiled, waved an ‘okay’ and Clare carried on down the corridor.
Gina had turned her back on them and faced the wall in frustrated anger. In reality though, she was merely trying to prevent the tears from falling, and a feeling of utter foreboding.
“Gee, I’ll be fine.” Molly tried to placate her but she remained with her back to the bed. “I won’t go anywhere at night on my own again, okay? I promise.” Gina began delving into her jeans pocket for a tissue, and giving up on finding one, blinked back a tear and turned to face her closest friend, the girl who was like a sister to her.
“Don’t you see? I can’t lose you too!” Andrew, who had already raised himself off the bed in anticipation, now dashed around to the other side and pulled Gina into his arms.
‘Her mother,’ he mouthed silently to Molly as he cradled his girlfriend’s head against his chest and held her tight.
“Come on Gee – sweetheart? Eh? We’re here to cheer her up, not for all of us to get upset.” He pulled some tissues from the box that Molly had held up to him and dabbed Gina’s eyes, trying carefully to avoid her make-up, which to be honest was pretty much now wrecked anyway. He kissed her gently on the lips and stroking her hair, waited until she’d calmed down before letting her go.
“I’m sorry… I just can’t bear to think…” She sat down close to Molly and took her by the shoulders. “Promise me if you do anything it’ll be with Andy or all of us, never on your own, not at all Molls.” Molly nodded and hugged her friend close whilst looking over her shoulder at Andrew who was heaving a huge sigh of relief. Whilst he obviously didn’t want any harm coming to her, he knew that out of the two, Molly was the one he could rely on for staying the course. He loved Gina dearly and always would, she was his soulmate, but he needed Molly for her sheer tenacity.
Staff Nurse Bradshaw came back to check all was well and popped her head round the corner of the door, noticed the flowers and returned with a vase of water.
“Visiting time is over now thank you,” she said briskly, arranging the bouquet in the glass holder. Gina and Andrew kissed Molly goodbye and promised to return the following evening. Once they’d gone and the dinner round was over, the room and ward outside was quiet and she was alone again.
The evening passed slowly. Molly glossed over a few magazines, dozed and watched a little TV. By eleven, as she was dropping off at the end of a film, a new doctor was about to start the night shift. Having just stubbed out her second cigarette in the hospital car park she now walked purposefully through the ground floor corridors towards the lifts.
TWENTY
Jason had spent the last three days laying low in Jenny’s flat. He’d managed to persuade the police to contact his doctors in Bradenthorpe and proved the dosage on the bottle they’d found was not his prescription, but in the absence of any other suspect they’d ordered him to stay in the vicinity.
Since Molly’s abduction incident, he’d been in and out of self-control, and although he was taking his tablets regularly again, he knew they weren’t working fast enough because of his lapse. Even though he’d increased the dose, the voices now almost always governed his actions. From past experience several months could pass before full effectiveness would be restored, but he didn’t have several months, and the thought, and guilt, of not being there for his sister really weighed him down.
The depression was building again and the voices were everywhere. Jenny had said she needed time to sort some ‘things’ out, would be away for a couple of nights. Well he guessed what that meant and it wasn’t good news. Jenny continually ignored his fears, refused to admit she’d resumed her relationship with Miles, what more could he do except be there when it all fell apart again? He’d promised her faithfully to stay indoors, not get into any trouble, but how could he do that when they wouldn’t let him? When they were holding court inside his head? Where they were gathering right now…
The clumping and shuffling re-focused his thoughts – his orders for the night. Access to Jenny’s car these last few days had proved extremely useful, not that she needed to know that of course. Following Charlotte home from work on one of them had proved very lucrative. If she intended to harm his sister in any way, then he would harm her and he’d discovered precisely the way to do it, the most wounding way the most effective.
After she found him in the surgery that night and demanded to know where Jenny lived, Jason believed it was only a matter of time before that mad witch struck. This was one occasion when he agreed with the voices, and they had no need to shout – he wasn’t fighting back anymore.
The padlock that should’ve been linked through the bolts had been left hanging carelessly. After slipping it off and placing it quietly onto the stone floor of the block, he drew back the first bolt on the top door, then the joining bolt to the bottom door, and the last one that connected to the upright framework. They gave a soft snort on hearing him enter. It was black inside, the only light coming from the moon shining through the top opener. It cast a pale strip-shadow across the walled partitions, the hanging riding hats and crops, the floored Hunter boots – and Charlotte’s precious horses. The smell of dung had hit him the minute he’d opened the top stable door, along with the warm hum of urinated hay and nine hundred pounds of horseflesh. When Greta and Gizmo actually became aware of him, their agitation was instant. Shuffling their feet, eyes wary, heads swinging this way and that, they were not accustomed to stranger
s in their stable – especially at night.
Jason set down the bin liners he’d been carrying and quickly opened them both, the horses were getting twitchy and he didn’t want to hang around any longer than he had to. From inside the bags he pulled out armfuls of what had originally been pretty yellow flowering plants. Pretty – but deadly. Hundreds of limp daisy heads like mini baby suns fell to the floor, each head, each petal, each stem, a killer. He smiled nervously each time he delved into the black plastic bag, nodding manically in agreement with them as they began laughing wildly in his head…
He moved cautiously towards the two horses, held the Ragwort just out of reach of their muzzles and shook it encouragingly. The animals leaned forward eagerly now and took the out of hours offering. Food could always override a little nervous tension where greedy horses were concerned.
Jason had always bemoaned at his flatmate’s interest in watching Countryfile every week, it had always seemed a really odd choice for a twentysomething latent punk, but now it had proved extremely useful. Amazing what you could actually learn, he thought as he watched the horses gratefully munching – and all from Sunday TV!
As the bin liners slowly deflated, his head rang with insane whispery chants for him to finish the job quickly and go – experiencing only a flash second of regret from somewhere far away as he scrunched up the bags and squashed them into a ball…
It hadn’t been that difficult to discover Molly’s whereabouts. Charlotte had simply donned her old white coat from her hospital days, stepped into the revolving glass door and walked straight into the foyer of the building.
Kirkdale General was a large teaching hospital, to all intents and purposes it just looked like she’d come on duty. It would be highly unlikely for somebody to suspect her, particularly with all the agency staff that were constantly coming and going. All she had to do was sling a stethoscope round her neck, stick some files under her arm, walk positively up to the reception desk and give a false name.
Charlotte got lucky. The team on was the same as night duty two days ago, they remembered the pandemonium, the yells of ‘chloroform poisoning’ and ‘resus’. They were also extremely busy that evening, it was a Friday, and as a weekend night always a challenge. No one bothered to check any credentials. A confident woman in white bearing medical equipment and an apparent stack of paperwork would easily pass for staff amongst the chaos of a busy night in A & E. After all, she was a doctor – just not one of theirs. Charlotte simply asked which floor the girl had been taken to. They even gave her the room number – 121.
Her comfortable flat brogues walked her silently along each corridor, rode stealthily with her in the lift and carried her smoothly and sedately out of the elevator when it reached the third floor. It was here that the private wing of the hospital was set out, where patients were nursed in individual rooms able to enjoy real peace in their own space, sleep better, and could use personal TVs and laptops if well enough. Usually this was a jackpot bonus for the recuperating individual who could afford it – but not tonight.
It had taken Charlotte a full fifteen minutes to locate the correct part of the hospital where it would be easiest and quickest to reach the upper floor area she needed. The sheer size of the building meant that there were plenty of corners, cupboards, toilets etc. to duck behind or into if she noticed anyone particularly worrying.
Unfortunately she would be unable to complete the job in her usual trademark style, carrying the relevant equipment would have aroused too much suspicion. Truly a shame, she thought, it depicts so much. Still, the end result is what really matters, and this girl is extremely unhelpful to my work – needs must.
As Charlotte rounded a corner she nearly walked straight into a couple of young interns enveloped in each other’s arms. She was getting close now, a less busy section, questions could very well be asked by a keen student wanting to score points. However, these two were clearly not thinking about their patients, or their duties. Even so, Charlotte still ducked behind the wall, heart pounding, neatly pressed into the convenient telephone alcove she’d just passed. The Gods are surely smiling down on me tonight she thought looking up – which ones she didn’t care to dwell on. As for the first-year post grads, what bloody appalling behaviour – in my day there would’ve been hell to pay! Still, seems they’re only interested in themselves so guess I should count my blessings.
She looked to her right again, checked the length of the corridor behind her as she’d done repeatedly, it was still unusually empty. Probably why the youngsters had chosen that area to meet, she decided disapprovingly, not for one moment appreciating the hypocrisy of her intentions…
The young voices fell silent and what could only be described as kissing and moaning sounds followed. Her eyes rolled. Dear God! How our hospitals need their army of matrons back! After a couple of minutes the lovers’ noises fell silent and she could hear both pairs of footsteps as they moved away from the area. Still in the alcove, she waited for a few more seconds, held her breath tensely and strained to hear – it had to be now. Despite the last five minutes, there surely wouldn’t be too many moments when there was absolutely no one due to appear in this section. Charlotte ventured out of the recess and craned her head around the corner; nothing. She re-checked behind her for the umpteenth time then began walking quickly towards room 121.
Jason checked his watch. 10.20p.m. He’d already spent far too long in that smelly stable – time he wasn’t there. The voices were reasonably happy although there was still some Ragwort left on the floor. Enough ingested to see the right result, however, long-term and short.
He peered out of the top door opening but could see and hear nothing untoward, just the horses munching contentedly behind him, for the moment anyway. It took less than two minutes to close and bolt the doors, replace the padlock, run along the tree-lined stable block using the bushes as extra cover and out of the gravel drive into the lane. It wasn’t pitch black but with no overhead street lighting there was very little illumination, he could slip unnoticed along the quiet country road to pick up the car from the clearing at the other end – job done.
As her hand rested on the door knob she felt the nausea rise from her stomach, when it reached her throat the familiar burning made her shudder automatically. Although it was a necessary act, there was still that nugget of sanity that continued to lurk in the farthest recesses of her mind where it tried to break through – each time manifesting itself in a spurt of reflux. Charlotte reached irritably into her trouser pocket for a tissue bent her head down and spat. She folded over the unpleasant contents and returned it to her pocket but the sour odour still hung tartly in the air; remained on her breath…
She removed the Chinese ball mask from the deep white surgical pocket, depressed the handle gently, entered the room and closed the door slowly and carefully behind her. It made the quietest click…
Molly lay in a deep sleep. Not deep enough though eh? she thought. The oriental face now covered her own as she began to approach the bed. Her heart hammered violently, her head throbbed with concentration, with the sheer terror of being discovered. She was not used to such a public place – it was a massive risk.
Suddenly Rachmaninoff was striking loud melodious tones from her inside pocket! She froze. Her mobile! The files tucked under her arm fell to the floor in that splattering whoosh only stationery could effect as she cursed her stupidity in leaving it on. Charlotte groped at her clothes, desperate to stop the ringing, located it and saw Miles’ number. She swiped the answer icon with one eye on Molly. He would never bother to ring, particularly when she was out, not unless there was an emerg…
“Charlotte! Where the hell are you? The horses are sick, really sick, they’re snorting, stamping, there’s Ragwort all over the stable floor!” She staggered then, clutched at the bed rail as an iron jaw clenched viciously down on her stomach and ripped at her guts. Her feet didn’t work, her mouth didn’t work. Her ea
rs heard all the words but her brain was totally redundant. “Charlotte do you hear me?! For God’s sake!”
“I… I…” she started then glanced at her ‘patient’. Molly was stirring. The noise of the folders falling and the mobile ringing had partially roused her. Charlotte suddenly regained her composure. The phone was snapped shut and thrust into her inside pocket. She left the plastic wallets where they fell, ripped the mask from her head and pushed that deep into an outside pocket. With all the self-control she could muster, she opened the door very, very slowly, extraordinarily quietly, just a crack so she could see. Once she’d checked the corridors both ways, she closed it silently behind her… and ran!
Molly moaned, turned over, and oblivious to everything began to snore…
Charlotte got out of that hospital a damned site faster than she’d got in. She flew down those corridors and gave no thought to her predicament, how she should be more careful in letting people see her running through the hospital without explanation, without her beeper going off, without any Tannoy announcements – without anyone else running. All she could think about were the horses.
Luckily it was late at night, there weren’t any visitors wandering about which cut the body count down somewhat. Even so she was now not only taking a huge risk by even being there, she was drawing attention to herself by those that did see her. A couple of doctors looked up in surprise as she ran past the end of their wards, but she didn’t care. Greta and Gizmo meant everything to her, they were her life. Who could have done this? Who?
