Scared to Death: A gripping crime thriller you won’t be able to put down. Kate Medina

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       8

      Squeezing her Mini on to the grass verge, the only spare inch of space available in the hospital car park, ignoring the dirty looks thrown her way by people in huge four-by-fours who were still circling, trying to find a space, Jessie jogged down the stone stairs and across the service road to A & E. Holding her breath as she ducked through the cigarette smoke fogging the entrance, she found Marilyn waiting for her inside. He was propping up the wall by the reception desk, one sole tapping impatiently against the skirting, thumbs skipping across the keys of his mobile. At the sound of her footsteps, he glanced up, his lined face creasing into a smile.

      ‘Thank you for coming, Jessie.’ A glance towards the packed A & E waiting room. ‘To the asylum.’

      ‘I won’t say that it’s a pleasure, but Gideon didn’t leave me much choice. For some reason your request shot straight to the top of my day’s admittedly short to-do list.’

      ‘I must have forgotten to tell you that Gideon and I play golf together every Sunday.’

      Her gaze tracked from the black bed-hair to the sallow, ravaged face that made Mick Jagger look a picture of clean living, to those disconcerting eyes hiding the sharp, enquiring mind she’d got to know. He had bowed to pressure from above and replaced his beloved black biker jacket with a black suit which hung from his scarecrow frame, only the suit’s drainpipe trousers hinting that he was anything more than a straight-off-the-production-line policeman.

      ‘Funnily enough, I don’t see you in checked plus-fours.’

      He grinned. ‘Masons?’

      ‘Ditto.

      ‘Yacht club?’

      Jessie rolled her eyes. ‘Shall we get started? I need to be back at Bradley Court by lunchtime. I have work to do. Proper work.’

      As they walked side by side down the corridor that cut from A & E to the main hospital, their rubber soles whispering in unison as they gripped and released the lino, Marilyn brought her up to date.

      ‘We’re not sure how long the baby has been here, but we know that he was left some time before midnight.’

      ‘Midnight? As in midnight ten hours—’

      He held up a hand, cutting her off. ‘Don’t get me started.’

      ‘He was left by his father?’

      ‘That’s our working theory. DS Workman and a couple of constables are going through last night’s CCTV footage of the A & E entrance to confirm.’

      ‘Why would a father abandon his baby?’

      ‘He abandoned him in a hospital, safe.’

      Jessie frowned. ‘A busy A & E department, all sorts coming and going? It’s hardly secure. The fact that the poor kid wasn’t noticed for … what …’ She glanced at her watch, mentally calculating. ‘Seven hours minimum suggests to me that it’s not the first place a caring parent in their right mind would look to deposit their baby for safekeeping.’

      ‘Right. So the rest of our working theory is that he wasn’t entirely compos mentis at the time.’

      Jessie glanced over. ‘Why do you think that?’

      They swung left into another corridor, identical to the first. Laying a hand on Jessie’s arm, Marilyn pulled her to a stop outside a door labelled ‘Family Room’. Tilting towards her, he lowered his voice.

      ‘There’s some history that you need to understand before we meet Granny.’

      Jessie caught his tone and raised an eyebrow. ‘And I presume the history is why you wanted me here.’

      Marilyn sighed. ‘The history and the story that I suspect may have played itself out last night, and what I fear might be the story going forward.’ He cocked his head towards the family room door. ‘The story that we need to break, as gently as possible, to Granny.’

      ‘Which is?’

      ‘The little boy is Harry Lawson. He lives with his father, Malcolm. Malcolm Lawson is also the father of Daniel Lawson.’ He paused. ‘Private Danny Lawson. Ring a bell?’

      She shook her head. ‘Should it?’

      ‘Danny Lawson committed suicide СКАЧАТЬ