Thursday 1 November, midday
Royal Stoke University Hospital Orthopaedic Ward
She hardly recognized him. Lying in bed, one leg suspended from a hook, pieces of metal sticking out, a bandage round his head, two black eyes. Had it not been for Fran sitting bolt upright by his side she might have walked right past his bed.
‘I didn’t expect this,’ she said.
Fran simply stared at her while Mike did his best to smile. He raised his hand. ‘Hi, Jo,’ he said.
‘Mike.’
She wanted to lean across and kiss his forehead, but not with his wife watching. Instead she sat down by Fran’s side, who was doing an excellent job of pretending she wasn’t there.
He had a blood drip running into his arm. His dark eyes fixed on her. He was trying to tell her something. Again he tried to smile, with no more success. Korpanski arched his back as though in pain and Fran instantly stood up. ‘I’ll fetch the nurse.’
As soon as she’d gone, Korpanski fixed his eyes on her. ‘It was deliberate,’ he managed. ‘You know you said something about routine?’
She nodded. ‘It was waiting for me. I saw it pulled up on the side street. When I jogged down St Edward’s Street, it came towards me.’
‘Did you see the driver?’
He shook his head, frowning. ‘Just a glance. Two men, I think. They came straight at me, Jo. I thought I was going to die.’
And then she did bend over and kiss his forehead. ‘Jeez, Mike,’ she said. ‘Why?’
He tried to shrug but at a guess his collarbone was broken too. It was a disjointed effort. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. Then just as his wife re-entered the room, he spoke again. ‘Be careful, Jo.’
She nodded, not really understanding, instead focusing on the information she had. ‘We’ve bagged up the van, sealed off the area.’
‘Stolen?’
She nodded.
Fran was like a little ball of fire. ‘That’s enough,’ she said, practically stamping her feet. ‘If he hadn’t asked to see you, I would have kept him quiet.’
The nurse she’d summoned watched before speaking to her patient. ‘Are you in pain, Michael?’
He nodded and she checked his drugs chart while Joanna turned to Fran. ‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘I’m going.’ She tried to cool her anger. ‘He just wanted to set the investigation going. We’ll take a fuller statement at some later date but, as you know, the sooner the better.’
It did nothing to improve Fran’s fury. She simply scowled at Joanna and Joanna left.