| |
––––––––
By mid-afternoon, RB decided to ring Lee Percival’s phone once more. He’d tried several times but merely reached the voicemail. The first time he’d left a message asking that he contact him but Lee hadn’t returned his call. He’d seen the reports on the local news websites about the assault the previous evening at the university. To his great relief, there had been no accurate description given that could identify him or his colleague Sonny. He just wondered whether Lee, who had accompanied him on Monday evening had heard anything on the grapevine. Lee had been busy up at Cole’s place so he might have some further details.
He decided to call one more time. ‘Lee, it’s RB, is that you? Why the fuck haven’t you been answering your phone?’ he shouted.
‘Lee’s unable to come to the phone at this moment, can I take a message,’ said the voice.
RB froze. He fumbled with his phone and it fell to the floor. Snatching it up he disconnected the call and flopped down on his bed. His heart was pounding. He would recognise that voice anywhere and it wasn’t Lee. Someone had Lee’s phone and in RB’s opinion, it meant one thing. Lee would never be able to answer his phone ever again.
**
Brett had taken a taxi to Persford station in time for the 11.30 a.m. train to London and he had about fifteen minutes before its departure. He was excited but at the same time slightly nervous. He knew how important this meeting was to PersCure and he did not want to screw up. He’d packed a few overnight things in his bag and had some glossy promotional brochures to hand over to the interested parties. After his late night visit to Polly at the Accident and Emergency department he’d managed to get about six hours sleep and had set his alarm for 9 a.m. His sleep had been broken. Hearing that Nick was again in hospital had triggered memories of the accident at BioQuex and that had combined with the fateful trip to the Hurlingham Club in London which had been the start of the insider dealing accusation. Waiting on the platform he tried to commit these recollections to history and to focus on the fact that this was the beginning of a new chapter.
The automated announcement told passengers that the train for London was approaching platform two. Brett moved a little further down the platform towards the front of the train where it was usually less busy. He had been going through in his mind the important things he wanted to cover. For his meeting in the wine bar, Jake Marsfield had sent another message to Brett to say that his financial adviser Theo Henchard would be accompanying him. The train slowed to a halt and he boarded the second carriage which was about half full. He chose an empty pair of seats and settled into the journey, removing his papers from his briefcase to go over the details one final time.
**
Nick Thomas had now completed both his scans and was being wheeled back to the ward. He felt very sleepy due to the sedation they’d given him prior to his MRI scan. He’d not requested any for the CT scan as it wasn’t such a long procedure but having his whole body inside the magnetic tube was more alarming and he didn’t want to suffer a panic attack. He felt slightly nauseous being driven feet first down this corridor and that and then into a huge lift and was willing the trip to end.
He hoped that once on the ward he would be able to have a short nap before they brought his evening meal and Polly arrived at visiting time. He was also expecting the arrival of his parents who had been due to get the train down from Manchester. Polly had contacted them late at night and had woken them up. She had told Nick how shocked they had been but she had counselled them against driving through the night and they had agreed to come down by train during the day. They had booked into a hotel on the outskirts of Persford initially for two nights. He was worried about his parents’ reaction and whether his appearance would be too much of a shock for them. They were both now in their late sixties and his mother wasn’t in particularly good health. He felt guilty and not for the first time for being such a source of worry for them.
The porters manoeuvred Nick’s bed back in position and pressed down the brake. Finally, his head stopped spinning and the nausea passed. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. After a few minutes, he was aware of a voice saying his name. He opened his eyes to see two medical staff at the end of his bed. He immediately recognised Dr Joseph from the previous day, his colleague looked familiar but Nick couldn’t quite recall who he was or when he’d made acquaintance with him.
‘Mr Thomas,’ said Dr Joseph, ‘I’ve brought Dr Brakeshire along to see you.’
Suddenly Nick remembered who the other doctor was. He’d been in charge of Nick’s care when he’d suffered a previous assault.
‘Hello, Dr Brakeshire, yes, I remember you.’
‘Well, Mr Thomas, we must stop meeting like this. You seem to be making a habit of being someone’s punch bag, don’t you think?’
Nick smiled weakly. If he’d felt better he would probably have quipped back that he wasn’t trying to get himself into the hospital to get some free meals but he felt too ill. He remained silent.
‘Yes, well, Dr Joseph was speaking to me about you and I thought your name was familiar, so I thought I’d pop along.’
‘Very kind of you,’ acknowledged Nick.
‘Well, we have some good news for you,’ said Dr Joseph. ‘Your CT scan looks fine, remarkably, I might add. But, I think your head has had more than enough trauma for one lifetime. If you have another incident that may not be the case. So do not take up any dangerous sports please.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ added Nick.
‘We are still waiting for the full report on the MRI scan but I had a quick look at the scans and apart from some severe bruising which we knew about, your internal organs look unscathed. Your spleen has escaped any trauma. The ribs should heal naturally.’
‘Thank you, doctor, that’s a huge relief,’ said Nick and felt close to tears.
‘If you hadn’t been found when you were, I think we might not be having this conversation,’ added Dr Brakeshire, ‘Well, I must be off now, lots of other patients to see. Look after yourself,’ and he waved cheerily as he left the ward.
‘We want to keep you in for a further few days but hopefully, you can sleep more easily tonight,’ said Dr Joseph. ‘I will see you in the morning.’
‘Thank you, doctor,’ said Nick and he closed his eyes, tears falling from them silently.
