Old School Nursing Home looked to Ben Cooper like a little haven of calm and security tonight. Its paths and drives had all been swept clear of snow, and sand had been sprinkled to avoid anyone slipping on the block paving. Nobody had bothered to do that at West Street yet. Also, there were lights on everywhere, and when he went inside, the rooms were warm and welcoming.
Cooper sat in the waiting room, aware that the staff always liked to have a few minutes to make sure his mother was ready to see him. Or rather, that she was ready for him to see. It made him smile a little to think that they were trying to protect him from the ugly realities of her condition, when he had already spent over a year dealing with its consequences at Bridge End Farm.
One of the care supervisors saw Cooper waiting and came to speak to him. The name on her badge was Rachel, and Cooper had met her several times.
‘Isabel has had a good day again today,’ she said.
‘Thank you. I think she’s settled here.’
‘Oh, yes, it’s much better tor her. She has complete care, and her medication is monitored constantly. There’s no need to feel guilty.’
Cooper raised his eyebrows. ‘What makes you think I do?’
‘It’s normal for family members to feel like that. It takes a while to be reassured that you’ve done the right thing. But you’ll sec that Isabel is quite content. She’s starting to make some friends now.’
‘I’d still like to keep coming every day, if that’s all right.’
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Rachel smiled. She wasn’t very old, twenty-five or twenty-six. He couldn’t understand what made a woman like this want to look after other people’s elderly relatives.
‘Of course, it’s fine,’ she said. ‘Come as often as you like.’
Then Cooper saw a familiar figure walking along the corridor on the way out. For a moment, he couldn’t identify who it was. It was one of those moments when he saw somebody he knew but his mind failed to name them, because he was seeing them out of context. Maybe this man was dressed differently, too, from when he had last seen him. Cooper’s brain floundered (or a moment. Then the front door opened and a draught of icy air blew into the waiting room. It was the chill that prompted his memory.
‘That was George Malkin,’ he said.
‘Oh, do you know Mr Malkin?’ said Rachel. ‘His wife is one of our residents, too. She’s been here lor some time now.’
‘Yes, it must have been a while.’
‘Sorry?’
‘I was just thinking. I’ve been to his house recently. It doesn’t show many signs of a woman’s touch, you might saw.’
v C) ‘ , O v
‘Poor chap. Some men are completely lost when it comes to living on their own. aren’t they?’
O v
‘So I believe,’ said Cooper.
‘Florence Malkin has dementia. She recognizes her husband sometimes. Rut, funnily enough, those are the worst davs. Florence has a bit of an obsession. She’s convinced that George is going to pay for her to get private treatment. She says he’s got the money to do it, and he’s going to send her away to get her cured. Some days it’s a top doctor in Harley Street, other days a famous specialist in America. She asks him about it every time he comes, when she remembers. She asks him over and over again, and he doesn’t know how to answer her. Well, however she thinks he s going to afford that, I don’t know. It’s obvious neither of them ever had more than two pennies to rub together.’ Rachel sighed. ‘You can see he’s absolutely devoted to her. I don’t know how he’s managing to pay for her care here without selling his house. Rut it won’t be for much longer. Poor man.’
‘Yes,’ said Cooper. ‘Poor man.’
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31
Ken Cooper rang Diane Fry’s mobile. He had never known what she did with herself in the evenings when she went oft duty, except that she sometimes drove into Sheffield. Fry had told him once that she had been trying to trace her sister, but she hadn’t mentioned it to him for months. She was much too secret and solitary a person for her own good.
‘Ben? Funny you should call. I’ve got some news.’
‘Yes?’
‘You were right about Marie Tennent. She was Sergeant Abbott’s granddaughter. Strange, isn’t it? Two granddaughters
o o o ‘ o o
of the Lancaster’s crew appearing at the same time. One dead and one very much alive.’
‘It was the anniversary of the crash,’ said Cooper. ‘Anniversaries are important. They both felt they had to remember it.’
‘That doesn’t explain why one of them was dead.’
‘No.’
‘Ben, we’ve also had the preliminary results of the postmortem.’
‘On Marie Tcnncnt?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s bad news, isn’t it, Diane?’
‘I’m afraid so. She suffered from more than just frostbite. She’d been badly beaten. She had bruises to her face and the upper part of her body, consistent with being struck by a fist several times. It looks as though she had been in a violent struggle not long before she died.’
‘Damn.’ The news made Cooper feel sick. Despite all the work on the Snowman enquiry, and all the time that