One of the staff nurses looking after Albert Johnson had introduced herself as Nadine, and although she’d viewed him with suspicion when he’d first introduced himself, she seemed to be warming to him.
Rick gave her a friendly smile as she passed him. ‘I hope I’m not getting in the way, sitting here.’
She paused beside the row of chairs outside ICU. ‘You’re fine there. I know you’re only doing your job.’
‘I’m only here because I really need to talk to Albert Johnson when he wakes up. I’ll stay out of your way, though. You won’t even know I’m here.’
Nadine rearranged the patient files she was holding. ‘We were expecting you. We had a visit from one of your colleagues earlier.’
Rick nodded and said in his most charming voice, ‘That would have been my boss, DS Hart. I know it’s an inconvenience, but it really is important we talk to him. If he wakes up, would you let me know?’
Nadine considered his request. ‘We’ve reduced the amount of sedation in the hope he’ll wake up on his own soon. There is still a little swelling around his brain, so he’s not going to be able to communicate well when he does wake up. But his condition has improved enough to move him to the cardiac care unit soon.’
‘Oh, that’s great news,’ Rick said.
Nadine smiled warmly at him. ‘He’ll probably be moved in the next hour or so. But once he wakes up, I’ll let you know.’
‘Thanks very much, Nadine,’ Rick said, wondering what on earth Karen had been talking about. She’d implied that the medical staff had been quite difficult and obstinate, but Nadine was incredibly friendly and helpful.
Nadine turned to walk away and then stopped. ‘He’s not in any trouble, is he?’
Rick shook his head. He didn’t want to lie, but he couldn’t let anything slip about this case. ‘I just want to ask him some questions about his fall.’
Nadine’s smile returned. ‘I’ll get you a cup of coffee, if you like. The stuff in the machine isn’t too good.’
‘That would be lovely.’
As he was waiting for Nadine to return, he noticed an old man shuffling along the corridor to the ICU ward. The man scratched his head, staring at the various posters and signs on the door, tried to open it and failed.
‘You need to press the green button, sir,’ Rick called out. ‘Then one of the nurses will come and let you in.’
The man turned around and held up a hand. ‘Oh, thank you.’
He held what looked like a bunch of grapes under his arm. He pressed the green button and, after a short wait, a nurse let him in.
After the old man disappeared inside the ward, Nadine approached and held out a mug of coffee for Rick.
‘I hope that’s all right. I’ve added a splash of milk, and here’s a packet of sugar if you need it. I forgot to ask how you took your coffee.’
‘That’s smashing. Perfect.’
Nadine blushed. ‘Well, I better get back to work. I’ll let you know when Mr Johnson wakes up.’
As Rick sipped his coffee, he wondered how Priya, his mother’s new carer, was getting on. She’d been helping Rick out by staying overnight three nights a week. But this was the first time she’d be alone with his mother all day.
His sister used to stay with their mother while Rick was at work. Because their mother had early-onset dementia, and her condition had worsened recently, she couldn’t be left on her own. But caring for someone in her condition wasn’t easy, and his sister had found it extremely difficult.
She still visited most days, but she’d taken a part-time job to help out with the costs of the carer. Today was a full training day at her new job, so she wouldn’t even be popping in.
Rick traced the outline of his mobile phone in his pocket and wondered whether he should call home and check up on Priya. He had just pulled his phone out when he heard someone call out.
He looked up and saw Nadine beckoning him over. Rick put his coffee mug down and slid his mobile back into his pocket, then walked towards her.
‘Any news?’
Nadine smiled. ‘Yes, he’s woken up.’
Karen checked her watch for the third time in five minutes. She and DI Morgan were going over some paperwork, but Karen was finding it hard to keep her mind on the task. They were still waiting to hear from Harinder.
‘Do you think it’s a bad sign we haven’t heard from him yet?’ Karen asked, putting her pen down on the desk.
‘It’s not even been an hour yet, Karen,’ DI Morgan said.
‘It’s been fifty-seven minutes.’
‘Patience isn’t your strong point, is it?’
Karen was about to argue but decided against it. He was right. She hated waiting for answers.
DI Morgan was walking over to the LaserJet to grab some printouts of their morning report when his mobile rang.
He said a few words to the caller and then pressed mute. ‘It’s my solicitor calling about the house sale. Go and see Harinder without me. If he hasn’t got any answers by now, maybe you can persuade him to work faster.’
DI Morgan was currently in the process of buying a house in Heighington after renting in the area since his move to Lincolnshire from the Thames Valley Police. Despite the pretty gruesome crime they had investigated in the village not long ago, DI Morgan had fallen in love with the location and decided it would be the perfect place to live.
Karen went downstairs to see Harinder alone. He was in the main computer room beside the laboratory. She stuck her head through the doorway. ‘So, Harry, what have you got for me?’
The room was small and crowded with electronic equipment. Harinder turned from the computer screen and gave Karen a wide smile.
He was young, good-looking, fiercely intelligent and made some of the female staff go weak at the knees, especially Sophie, who was always first to volunteer to liaise with the handsome technical analyst.
Karen didn’t understand the swooning over Harinder. He was too smooth and too young to be her type, but she still had a lot of time for him. He was extremely talented. Some of the technical staff could be stuffy and intimidating, but Harinder always had a ready smile when Karen visited the lab. She’d come to him with numerous problems in the past, and he’d always found a way to help. He had a strong work ethic and enjoyed solving problems.
‘Please tell me you have an ID for me,’ Karen said as she slipped into the computer chair beside him.
He smiled again. ‘When have I ever let you down, Karen?’
There were multiple windows open on his computer, and he quickly tapped on the keyboard, his fingers moving like lightning.
A fuzzy scanned image appeared on the monitor, and Karen felt her stomach sink. There was no way they could get anything from that.
‘I had to do a manual adjustment to really get the name and text to pop. It just involved tuning up the contrast and lighting. Here, let me zoom in.’
He used the mouse to select an area of the fuzzy driver’s licence, and an expanded view of the document appeared on the screen.
Karen stared in amazement. The name was clearly visible. She couldn’t believe he’d managed to get text from that stained piece of paper. It was magic.
‘Oliver Fox,’ she said quietly, reading from the screen. ‘So now we have a name for our victim. Brilliant. Do you have an address, too? Driver number?’