Murph held Helen, sobbing in his arms. He pulled back, held his hands to her face, and kissed her firmly, gently.
He grabbed Helen’s wheelchair, pulled it to the side of the bed, and helped her in. She went to the front door of the suite. Murph opened the door and shoved the wedge under it. Helen crossed the threshold on to the walkway.
‘Don’t go anywhere,’ said Murph. He glanced back at Patrick, lying, bleeding and unconscious, on the scattered pages of his notebook. ‘I’m going to lock this prick in the bathroom.’
As he dragged Patrick by the ankles past the shattered door, he heard the sound of a distant fire engine. He backed into the en suite and rolled Patrick into the recovery position. He stood up, stepped around him and, as he walked out the door, caught sight of the emergency pull cord from the corner of his eye. He reached out and pulled it.
He went to Helen. Her hands were over her ears.
‘I’ve always wanted to do that,’ said Murph. ‘Right,’ he said, ‘there’s a you to make safe in the inn. And a Laura in a tunnel with a broken ankle. I got her as far down as I could, but she made me go check on you. Mind you, at this stage, she probably got up and walked on it the rest of the way.’ He gripped the handles of the wheelchair.
Helen glanced around at him, frowning. ‘I can do it – it’s fine.’
‘Not at the speed I’m about to go,’ said Murph.
In the darkness of the bathroom, Patrick’s eyes flickered open. He winced, rolled on to his back. He touched his hand to the wound at the side of his head and pulled it away. He looked at the blood, disgusted, then got slowly to his feet. He tried the door handle, then kicked it.
He felt around the pockets of his jacket, and pulled his wallet from the inside. He went to the window and under the weak glow from the moonlight, slid out a store loyalty card. He went over to the door, crouched down, held on to the handle, and started to slide the card up and down in the gap between the door and the frame, getting more and more angry, pausing to slam his hand against the door before he started again.
Then he heard a click. Then he smiled.