His boss was either pulling rank – which he had a right to do – or testing him. Bill Lamb walked along the hospital corridor avoiding any eye contact, especially with patients on gurneys or in wheelchairs, or walking with IV poles.
Nothing good had ever happened to him in a hospital – or nothing good that wiped out memories of the other: deaths of people he’d cared about. Dan O’Reilly knew that.
He reached the right place and flipped out his warrant card. They had Radhika Malek in a private room and the copper on guard duty shuffled upright and gave a sloppy salute. ‘Evening, sir. All quiet around here.’
‘That’s good.’ The word had come through to the station at just before six that Radhika could have one visitor at a time. His boss had sent him to Cheltenham within the hour.
A nurse at the ward desk had said he could go in to see Radhika, but he mustn’t stress the patient in any way. He’d seen others from Folly in a waiting room, so the police hadn’t been the only ones to get the word.
Naturally, Alex and Tony had been there, and the new vicar’s wife. He hadn’t acknowledged them.
Bugger, he wanted to get this over with.
He tapped a small square of glass in the door but there was no answer.
Quietly, he lowered the handle and pushed a couple of inches. ‘Radhika Malek?’ he said. ‘May I have a few words with you?’
He heard her say, ‘Yes,’ although she spoke barely above a whisper.
Closing the door behind him, he went to stand at the foot of the bed but made sure he wasn’t too close. The patient’s – or in this case, the victim’s – emotional comfort must be considered.
If he had seen this woman before, he wouldn’t have forgotten her. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Lamb. Sorry to disturb you but we’ve been waiting to ask a few questions about the attack on you.’
Her blue-black hair shone in a thick plait that lay over one shoulder. Dark eyes that must be huge when they weren’t swollen and discolored looked at him steadily and he got the feeling she was doing her best not to appear frightened. Ms Malek, with her deep olive skin, was a diminutive knockout.
‘Is it OK if I sit?’ he said, and she nodded, yes.
Taking a chair padded in nasty pale green plastic to match the walls and the curtains around the bed, he sat down and rested his forearms on his thighs. Best to seem relaxed, or so he’d always thought. Not always easy. He hadn’t earned his bulldog reputation for nothing.
‘Could you tell me everything you remember about the night you were attacked?’
Her heavily bandaged hands had been resting at her sides on the white sheets. She lifted them now and he saw metal splints showing at the ends of her fingers. The woman stared at them as if for the first time, and didn’t say a word.
Bill let a couple of minutes tick by.
‘It must be hard to talk about,’ he said. ‘Even harder to think about, I should imagine.’
Those unreadable eyes met his. She nodded her head, yes.
‘We know there are things that need sorting out in Folly-on-Weir. You’re the closest we’ve got to a witness, otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering you.’
Panic flashed across her features and for an instant she looked as if she was searching for a way to escape.
‘Did you see who your assailant was?’
A shake, no, this time.
‘Any impressions he left you with? Any ideas about his size? Anything at all could be just what we’re looking for.’
‘Big,’ she said. ‘Heavy. He knocked me down and lay on top of me. He – he banged my face on the ground. And he hit my hands with … I don’t know. Perhaps a hammer, or perhaps a stone. I don’t know.’
‘Where had you been?’
This time her silence surprised him.
‘Did you get any impression you might know this person?’
Another shake of the head, no, and this time she looked away quickly.
He couldn’t ask her if she was lying, not now, but he thought she might be.
A nurse tapped the door and walked in. ‘Are you doing OK, Radhika? Don’t let yourself get tired out.’
Radhika didn’t give an indication either way.
‘This was hand delivered for you before I came on shift.’
Lamb raised his head to peer at the envelope in the nurse’s hand but she turned it upside down, deliberately, and tucked it in the top drawer of the nightstand. ‘Must be a well-wisher,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll help you open it later.’
After the nurse left, Lamb sat back in his chair, rethinking how to question Radhika Malek. Something about her precluded any overly tough approach.
He leaned forward again. ‘Can I ask for a cup of tea for you?’
‘Yes, please.’
Grateful for that much loosening up, he went to the guard on the door and asked him for tea and biscuits – for two.
‘Do you have any notions about who might have done this?’ Again he sat down. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and smoothed his tie. ‘Toss out any suggestions, even if you think they could be crazy. Anything that comes to mind. Anything at all.’
Silence.
‘Did you have Dr Harrison’s dog with you at the time?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you let her go or did she just get away from you?’ Pointless questions had been known to open up a witness.
‘When I was being held down, I slipped off the leash and told Katie to go. She went to—’
‘The Black Dog. Yes, we know. Why do you think she didn’t go home?’
‘It is too far. When she is in the village she is always trying to get to the pub. She is most happy there.’
Lamb looked more closely at Radhika. ‘Are you crying, miss?’ He reached for a box of tissues, glanced at her hand and pulled a couple out for her. She raised her eyes to his face and he couldn’t help dabbing at them, and at her cheeks, himself.
‘I have to go away,’ she mumbled. ‘I must go before he finds out I’m not dead. I was left for dead.’
Rather than the copper on the door, Alex entered with Tony carrying mugs on a tray and biscuits wrapped in plastic.
‘Alex,’ Radhika said, speaking voluntarily for the first time since Lamb had been there. ‘I wanted to send for you but you are injured. I need you with me. Tony … good people. I am so grateful to you for trusting me. I have loved Folly. I don’t want to go, but—’
‘You’re not going,’ Alex said.
Tony wheeled the bed table closer then found another chair for Alex.
‘We’re in the middle of …’ Lamb almost said ‘interrogation’, but stopped himself. ‘We’re having an official chat. The lady isn’t supposed to have more than one visitor at a time, anyway.’
‘The policeman’s phone rang and I volunteered to take the tray for him,’ Alex said. What a master she was at the innocent looks. ‘He thought you’d already left. Said he got held up in the cafeteria.’
Lamb had no doubt that Alex had engineered her way into the hospital room but he’d be having a word with the man on the door later.
‘I need you to leave,’ he said. ‘I’m here on official business.’
‘I cannot speak with you unless Alex stays.’ Radhika turned her eyes to Tony Harrison and gave an apologetic smile. ‘You understand I need a woman for support, Tony?’
‘Of course I do. I’ll be in the waiting room. The vicar’s wife is out there.’ Radhika looked at her hands on the bed. ‘Most kind, I am sure, but I only need Alex.’
Why would Radhika choose me? Alex wondered. We aren’t old friends.
Radhika continued, ‘She stayed with me after … after it happened when she needed to be resting herself. I trust Alex.’
Lamb looked out of his depth but determined. He kept glancing at something on the bedside table, or that’s how it seemed, but Alex couldn’t see what that might be.
Once Tony left and closed the door, an awkward silence followed. Radhika reached out a bandaged hand to Alex and she covered it carefully.
‘After the dog took off last night,’ Lamb said, ‘you took a call on your mobile from Lily Duggins.’
‘Yes, she wanted to know why Katie had gone to the pub. I asked Lily to keep Katie for me and she agreed.’
‘But you’d already been attacked?’
Radhika closed her eyes and breathed through her mouth. ‘Yes.’
‘Why didn’t you ask for help?’
Tears slid free again. ‘I wanted to manage on my own. I forgot I had my phone until it rang. I didn’t want help.’ Her voice rose. ‘I don’t want help now. I will be well and then I will leave Folly. It will be best.’
‘Listen,’ Alex said, drawing closer to Radhika and dropping her voice even lower. ‘When there’s trouble – and that’s what we have now – it’s best to stick together. We’ll help one another. Harriet and Mary Burke are ready to take you into their home. They have a bedroom ready. You can be safe and recover.’
‘I could not put them at risk. No, I must not accept their kind offer.’
‘I don’t see how you can refuse. Everyone knows you’ve said you’ll go back to the cottage on your own. We would never be comfortable with that.’
‘We’ll guard the cottage round the clock,’ Lamb said. ‘That’ll be best. You wouldn’t want to deal with the stairs at the sisters’ place.’
‘You could put a guard on Harriet and Mary’s place. How would that be different? Except that Radhika would have company all the time.’
For an instant Lamb looked on the verge of an outburst, but he shuttered his face and stood up. ‘I have some calls to make. Please understand that you must not go anywhere without informing us of your plans, Ms Malek.’ He walked out quickly, leaving behind an air of annoyance and determination to orchestrate what each of them did no matter how they felt about that.
‘The police are a danger to me,’ Radhika said.