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An hour later he was sitting by Elspeth’s bed in a room off a small ward. Other than a few stitches in the back of his head he was fine, shaken up and bruised but basically OK. Elspeth was in bed with her eyes closed. She had made it easy for him. The hospital medic had lost the battle with Elspeth’s hysteria and she had fallen apart. Now she was asleep, sedated.
One arm lay on the bedclothes with the wrist in some sort of strapping. It was broken. Inga had been right. He’d get his two days. He sat back and looked at her sleeping. Soon the questioning would begin and it wouldn’t just be the police who did the asking. When Elspeth woke she would also begin asking.
How much to tell them? The problem was the delay. Everything hinged on him getting out of the car. Getting out the way he did and pulling Elspeth away meant that he knew there was a bomb. That wasn’t going to be so easy to explain to the police, or to Elspeth.
He looked at her. She was still a good-looking woman. She’d been beautiful when they married ten years ago, the way some women can be more beautiful at forty than they can at twenty. A mature, lasting beauty. How her father, Hugh, had kept her a virgin until they had met, God alone knew. Not that he wasn’t grateful. Hugh might be a selfish old bastard, but he’d done Charlie a favour even if he hadn’t meant to. The trouble was that as well as looks she had enough brains not to swallow any simple lie. Whatever he told her would have to stand up. It might even have to be the truth, or near enough so only he knew it was a lie. The main thing was that she would continue to trust him, to believe in him. That meant there would have to be window dressing, some nice comforting lies, so she wouldn’t be afraid. He didn’t want her to know how dangerous this might be or how much worse it could get. The important thing was for her to feel that everything was under control. That way she wouldn’t become a liability.
Another possibility occurred to him as his mind got back in gear. If someone was putting the frighteners on him, then getting at him through Elspeth might be an option for whoever was out there. You could never be sure. Only one thing was certain, you never expected the one that got you. If they got you.
Charlie’s mind was beginning to function again. The soft years were falling away and dormant instincts were reviving. It was all about self-preservation. Somewhere inside his head he was beginning to get that old feeling. Only Charlie mattered. Everyone else, absolutely everyone, was expendable. You used what you had to hand. Keep Elspeth believing in him, trusting him. Keep her predictable.
A voice came from the door of the room. It was a nurse. ‘How do you feel, Mr Bronski?’
‘OK, thank you.’
‘The policeman who’s been waiting asked if you could talk to him now? I told him you were with your wife but he still wanted me to ask.’
‘Not yet. I don’t want my wife to be alone when she wakes. Tell him I’ll come when she’s awake. I want to be sure she’s going to be all right.’
He turned back to the bed. He wasn’t ready for the police. He still needed time.
‘I understand, Mr Bronski. I’ll tell them.’ Charlie turned back to the nurse.
‘Them? I thought you said it was only one?’
‘Only one who’s been waiting here since you and your wife were admitted. The other one arrived a few minutes ago. I think that’s why he wanted me to see if you’d come now.’
Charlie turned back to the bed and the nurse left.
Two of them. And they’d know for definite by now that it was a bomb, a good one. Also that we were far enough away from the car not to be seriously injured when it detonated. They wouldn’t be stalled for long. With car bombs in the frame there was very little space for courtesy or consideration, even in Denmark, even on a Sunday. They’d soon have a nurse by Elspeth’s bed and it wouldn’t be, ‘Would you be ready to talk now?’ It would be, ‘Now we’re going to talk.’ He had just about run out of time. He moved to the bed and gently but firmly began to shake Elspeth and whisper, close to her ear.
‘Wake up, Elspeth. It’s me, Charlie. Wake up, darling. Wake up.’
Finally her eyes opened. They were dazed and faraway. She looked at Charlie as if he was a stranger. He hoped she wasn’t too drugged to be of any use.
‘Stay with me, Elspeth, stay with me.’
Elspeth eyes slowly began to focus, she was surfacing.
Then the recognition came and with it the fear.
‘Oh my God, Charlie, what happened? Are you hurt? What happened?’
The fear was taking over. He had to be quick and he had to stop her going hysterical again.
‘It’s all right, darling. Don’t worry. We need to talk. Just lie and try to listen. When we’re at home I’ll explain everything, but for now you’re to say you can’t remember anything. Nothing at all. You remember leaving the house and waking up in this bed but between those two things it’s a total blank.’ He hoped there was enough sedative in her to keep her from falling apart again. He took her good hand, bent down and kissed her.
‘It’s going to be all right. Nothing more is going to happen. It was an awful accident but we’re neither of us badly hurt. I don’t want you being questioned until you’re safe home with me. Then we can answer things together. After all, there’s nothing we can tell anybody. It happened, we don’t know why. It was probably something to do with the petrol. I just don’t want you bothered while you’re in hospital. I want us to be together when anyone talks to you. We don’t know anything and I don’t want you upset.’ He kissed her again. Did she understand? Her eyes were drifting away, she was going under again. ‘You remember nothing, OK?’ He smiled. ‘Nothing until we’re together again, safe at home.’
She returned his smile. ‘All right, Charlie, you know best.’
Thank God for that. He gently stroked her arm then kissed her again.
‘Now go back to sleep and get well. I want you back in your own house, I want us to be together.’ He stood up but kept hold of her hand. ‘I have to go out for a minute to check something with the doctor. I want you sound asleep when I get back.’
Elspeth smiled in a vague, drugged way and nodded. Then her eyes closed. Charlie waited for a few seconds until her breathing told him she was asleep. Now he could talk to the police. He put her hand down gently, left the room and looked around.
Standing at the end of the short corridor were two men. He walked towards them. As he got nearer and saw them more clearly he became sure that whatever they were it wasn’t policemen. He quickly decided which one to talk to first.
They came in all shapes and sizes, men and women. The ones who didn’t look the part were usually the best. This one was anonymous except for the small moustache. The moustache was definitely a mistake. Charlie wasn’t surprised that he was there, a bomb these days almost certainly meant terrorists, so they’d naturally have at least one of the goon squad on hand. Still, start with the muscle, you’re not supposed to know how these things work, so start with the wrong one and see where it goes from there.
He started talking before he reached them. He wanted to be the first to speak, as far as was possible he wanted to control the conversation. When he spoke it was Moustache he looked at.
‘I have to get back to my wife. I can’t give you much time but I understand that you must ask me some questions. She’s sleeping but I’d rather she didn’t wake up alone. So, if you could be as brief as possible ...’
Moustache looked at him with dead eyes and ignored what he had said. It was the other man who answered and his eyes were anything but dead, they were the eyes of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.
‘It was a bomb, Mr Bronski. I understand your concern for your wife but I’m afraid ...’
Charlie feigned surprise. ‘What? A bomb?’
‘A bomb.’
‘But I don’t understand. Why would anyone put a bomb in my car?’
‘Why indeed? The same question has occurred to us. Why would anyone put a bomb in your car?’
Charlie switched to baffled amazement. Baffled amazement wasn’t easy but he gave it his best shot.
‘I don’t understand ... are you sure?’
‘Very sure.’
‘I’m afraid I just don’t understand.’
‘Of course, Mr Bronski. Please, return to your wife immediately. It was insensitive of us to intrude. One doesn’t get blown up every day and I’m sure it can be, well, most upsetting. We understand,’ he looked at Moustache, ‘don’t we, Sergeant?’
The concern in the voice and the understanding smile were so false they were almost as comic as calling Moustache ‘Sergeant’. Charlie had to work quite hard to keep the smile off his face and out of his eyes. Moustache just kept on looking at Charlie. He was the straight man, it was the other one who was the comedian. Charlie looked at the Comedian.
‘Thank you.’
He was about to turn away.
‘My sergeant will come with you and wait outside your wife’s room.’ Moustache walked towards him. ‘In case you need anything.’
‘What sort of thing?’
‘Oh, one never knows. One wants something and finds it easier for someone else to get it. Doesn’t one?’
The urge to say, ‘Does one?’ was almost overpowering. This guy was going to be a handful. Moustache was pure routine but he hadn’t expected anyone like the Comedian. Moustache stood beside him looking at him with the same dead eyes and his hands hanging by his sides. Charlie knew what he was thinking. It was a job, nothing more. If he made a wrong move Moustache would flatten him. But Charlie knew the moves and he would be careful not to make any wrong ones.
They walked together back to Elspeth’s room. Charlie went in and closed the door. Moustache waited outside. By the time Charlie reached the bed, the door was slightly open again. It was a small room, Moustache wouldn’t need perfect hearing to eavesdrop on any conversation. But he probably had it anyway. From now on privacy was something Charlie would have to work for.
OK, we all know the game, so let’s play it and see who gets the last laugh. He tried to smile to himself, but it didn’t take. The Comedian was going to be hard to get past and there was still ‘Bang, you’re dead’ out there somewhere. The odds weren’t great but he had some things on his side, things he might be able to use. He looked at the bed. He had Elspeth, he had himself and he had his ace in the hole, if he could reach it. Two days at most to work things out and he would be ready. Then, if he needed it, he would go and get his ace in the hole. If there still was an ace. And if it was still in the hole.