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In Her Blood

Page 24

by Annie Hauxwell

Thompson exchanged a glance with Delroy, then made a pantomime of looking at his watch. ‘I have to go. We’ll talk when you’re better,’ he said and disappeared from view.

  The effort of speaking had exhausted Berlin. She closed her eyes. Delroy whispered in her ear.

  ‘The police found Coulthard’s shoes at the Basin. They think he went to top himself but it was frozen over, so he went into the river instead. I reckon he’s legged it to Spain.’

  Berlin wanted to smile, but couldn’t. She had stared into the abyss and it blinked first. The dragon had been put to the sword; hereafter night would mean sleep.

  The nurse came back and started to rig up a device. ‘You’ll have to go now,’ she said to Delroy, hooking a tube into the cannula in Berlin’s arm. She adjusted a valve.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Delroy.

  ‘PCA,’ replied the nurse. ‘Patient-controlled analgesia. She’s going to be in excruciating pain.’

  Berlin opened her eyes wide, alarmed. The nurse gave her a brisk, reassuring nod. ‘This will fix it,’ she said.

  Delroy watched as she curled Berlin’s fingers around the device and showed her how to control the flow.

  ‘What is it?’ said Delroy.

  The nurse smiled. ‘Morphine,’ she said.

  Acknowledgements

  Sincere thanks to Ben Ball of Penguin Australia and Jason Arthur of Random House UK.

  Particular thanks to my very classy agent, Sarah Ballard.

  Special thanks to Arwen Summers, my editor at Penguin Australia.

  No thanks to those who told me a picture was worth a thousand words.

  Heartfelt thanks to Peta Masters for the title, and just about everything else.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  Epub ISBN 9781448107421

  Published by William Heinemann 2012

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  Copyright © Annie Hauxwell 2012

  Annie Hauxwell has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  First published in Great Britain in 2012 by

  William Heinemann

  Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road

  London SW1V 2SA

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

  The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 9780434021802

 

 

 


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