Queen Elizabeth Hospital had grown calmer. The enhanced security had disbanded, and the journalists and camera crews had finally moved on. Henley took the lift up to the third floor. No one paid any attention as she walked past the nurses’ station and made her way to Karen’s room. An unimpressive security guard sat outside the door playing a game on his phone. Henley followed the instructions on the safety poster, pressed the dispenser on the wall and rubbed her hands vigorously with the anti-bacterial liquid. The TV above Karen’s head was restricted to the non-premium channels. As far as Henley could tell, she was watching another episode of Judge Rinder even though her right eye was covered with a bandage. The bedside cabinet was filled with flowers and the requisite bunch of grapes and a large bottle of Lucozade.
‘Hello, Karen,’ Henley said.
‘Oh, Inspector. Sorry, I’ve forgotten your name,’ Karen replied, pushing herself up on the bed. Her face was still heavily bruised and swollen.
‘Inspector Henley. They were still going heavy on the painkillers the last time I was here.’
‘I needed them, but they’ve taken away my drip now. This is just antibiotics,’ Karen tapped at the cannula in her hand. ‘I caught an infection yesterday.’
‘How much longer are you staying in then?’
Henley forced herself to put a smile on her face. To show that she genuinely cared.
‘I should be going home on Sunday. The doctors are just waiting for this infection to clear up.’
‘And the eye? I hope that there’s no permanent damage?’ said Henley. She pulled a chair from the corner and sat down.
‘They’re still not sure.’ Karen put a hand to her bandaged eye and winced. ‘I had the dressing changed yesterday but everything is still swollen. They’re not sure if the damage is going to be…’ She put a hand to her chest and took a breath. ‘They’re not sure if the damage is going to be permanent.’
‘Have you managed to see your colleague, Ade?’ Henley asked. Would there be any acknowledgement that she was partially responsible for his condition?
‘Oh… erm… I haven’t been able to see him. How is he?’
‘He’s still in a coma. He has a fractured skull and there’s swelling in his brain.’
Karen looked down at the hospital-issued blanket. ‘I… Will he recover?’
‘They’re not sure.’
Karen looked up at Henley with her good eye before turning away. ‘I didn’t think…’
‘You didn’t think what?’
‘Nothing, nothing. Ade didn’t deserve that. It all happened so quickly.’
‘You spent a lot of time with Olivier, didn’t you?’
Henley noticed the subtle spark in Karen’s good eye at the mention of his name.
‘It wasn’t by choice. It was just part of my job. I wasn’t with him all of the time.’
‘But you were short-staffed. Not enough prison officers? It’s the same as the force. It’s the same everywhere.’ Henley leaned forward in her chair. ‘You’re overstretched, so probably ended up doing more than your fair share?’
Karen nodded. ‘The pay is rubbish. The hours are rubbish and there aren’t enough of us.’
‘Did you know that Olivier had access to a mobile phone?’
Karen didn’t answer.
‘Do you have any idea how he would have got a phone?’
‘Another prisoner? Or one of the guards. It wouldn’t be the first time.’
‘Even in the High Security Unit? I thought that they would have been a bit more vigilant about that sort of thing.’
‘I didn’t know that he had a phone.’ Karen shifted uncomfortably in her bed. ‘It’s not as if he was kept in isolation. There were other prisoners that he could talk to. They could have easily given him a phone.’
‘Did he tell you that he was feeling ill?’ Henley picked up the jug of water on the table and poured a glass for Karen.
‘Not at all.’ Karen gratefully took the cup. ‘He didn’t ask to see the doctor unless he mentioned something to another guard before I started my shift.’
‘You weren’t with him when he collapsed, were you?’
‘No, I was doing checks on the wing. Is this an interview?’
‘No, no. I just wanted to see how you were doing and to ask you a few questions about when Olivier escaped. You’re an important witness. We still haven’t caught him yet, so any information you can give us about that day is vital.’
‘I told those other officers everything I knew when they came this morning.’ Karen sounded almost petulant.
‘They were agents from the NCA and there’s been another murder since then and we have evidence that leads us to Olivier being a suspect.’
‘Peter wouldn’t… I mean… Why would he?’
It wasn’t lost on Henley that Bajarami always called Olivier by his first name.
‘He’s a killer. It’s what he does. There’s a possible attempted murder charge for what he did to Ade and of course the GBH with intent charges against you and the security guard.’
Henley could tell that her questions were making Karen uncomfortable and nervous as she began to fiddle with the chain around her neck. ‘It’s like I said in my statement. It all happened so quickly. I was outside when I heard the commotion and then when I got in the room, he… I didn’t even know that he had the fork in his hand.’
She looked as though she was about to cry but Henley wasn’t convinced the tears were genuine.
‘Was there anything else that you wanted to ask me?’ Karen asked.
‘There is, actually. Someone provided Olivier with insulin. Turns out that the insulin was taken from the hospital wing of the prison—’
‘What are you saying?’
‘Well, I don’t think that Olivier left his wing, strolled down and got it himself. An officer must have got it for him.’
‘It wasn’t me.’
‘Do you have any idea who it could be?’
‘No, no… I don’t… I have no idea why anyone would help him. Look at what he did to me and Ade.’
‘There is one more thing,’ said Henley. ‘The Franklin-Jones Cold Storage Facility. Have you heard of it?’
Karen repeated the name and shook her head. ‘Why?’
‘We’ve got footage of a woman who looks like you in the reception area of the storage facility last week.’
‘No, it couldn’t have been me. I’ve never been to Manor Park and I’m pretty sure that I was working last week. It must be someone who looks like me. I’ve got one of those faces.’
Henley’s stomach flipped. ‘I never said that it was in Manor Park.’
‘I thought that you did. Is there anything else?’ Karen asked. ‘It’s just that I’m really tired.’
The chain that Karen had been fiddling with had escaped the confines of her hospital gown and was now dangling from her neck.
‘No, that’s it,’ Henley said. ‘Your necklace. My daughter would love that. She’s crazy about stars.’
‘Thank you.’ Karen sat back in her bed and quickly placed her necklace inside her hospital gown.
‘What’s the crystal next to it?’
‘Oh, I’m not sure. It was a get-well gift.’
‘Your boyfriend?’
‘Something like that.’ Karen sat back in the bed and held out the chain in front of her. ‘A good friend.’
Henley left Karen in her room and made her way to the nurses’ station.
‘Excuse me—’ Henley held out her warrant card to the nurse sitting at the desk. ‘I need to ask you a question about your patient Karen Bajarami in room six.’
‘I’m not allowed to disclose any information about our patients,’ he said.
‘I don’t want information about her specifically. I just want to know if she’s had any visitors. I’ll go downstairs and check with security, but if you were here—’
‘She’s had a few,’ said the young nurse who was sitting next to him. Her nametag said Isma. ‘I think her mum came again yesterday and a couple of her work friends. I had to tell them there were too many in the room.’
‘Is there anyone else?’ asked Henley.
‘Oh, there was a man who came first thing this morning. Do you remember, Julien?’ said Isma. ‘He bought her a bunch of M&S ready meals and asked if there was somewhere we could keep them.’
‘Oh yeah, him,’ said Julien, ignoring the phone ringing on his desk. ‘I buzzed him through. He wasn’t too impressed about the menu. Can’t say that I blame him. I wouldn’t feed it to my cat and I don’t even like my cat.’
‘Can you remember what he looked like?’
Julien looked across at Isma and shook his head. ‘Not really. He was white, tall. Maybe in his forties. He was very nice, gave us some chocolates to say thank you. If my gran was here, she would say that he was charming.’
‘He’s clearly got a plan,’ said Henley. ‘I doubt very much he’s hanging around just because he’s concerned about his girlfriend.’
‘So why even visit her?’ Pellacia asked, frowning. ‘What use is Karen Bajarami to him now? She’s helped him escape and she nearly lost an eye for it. Why didn’t she scream blue murder when Olivier came to see her?’
‘You didn’t see the look on her face when I asked her about the necklace. She was pleased.’
‘We need to bring her in.’ Pellacia was unequivocal.
‘I know that, but I’m stuck until a doctor says that she’s fit to be discharged,’ said Henley.
‘PACE guidelines don’t actually say that she has to be interviewed at a police station and it doesn’t mean that we haven’t got grounds to search her flat. For all we know, Olivier could be staying there. Where does she live?’
‘Kidbrooke. It’s going to take me about an hour to scrape an application together and then I’ve got to find a judge or magistrate to hear my application.’
Pellacia checked his watch. ‘You’ve got time. Get the application done and then show yourself at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ and get before a judge. As soon as we get the warrant, we’re searching Bajarami’s flat and then we’re arresting her. I don’t give a shit if she’s declared fit or not.’