in the hospital administrator’s parking space to the left of the front door.’
‘Fantastic,’ I said.
‘He also told me to tell you that he was only just in time to stop the bomb squad blowing it up.’
I laughed. The first time since…
‘He also wants you to move it as soon as possible as the hospital administrator could arrive at any time and demand his space back.’
‘I’ll drive it home now and put it in the garage,’ I said. ‘We could get something to eat there, and I could put on a clean shirt.’ It seemed like a very long time since I’d dressed to go to Harrow.
‘The policeman didn’t really want to give me the car keys but I told him I was your father-in-law.’
‘And I told him I was your wife,’ said Jenny.
That must have confused him.
My car was where it was promised and I drove the four of us back to Ebury Street. Rosie didn’t want to go home on her own and Jenny and Charles were happy to have her stay with us.
‘Hello, Mr Halley,’ said Derek at the desk. ‘Delivery for you.’
He held out an envelope to me. I just looked at it as he put it down on the marble top.
‘Did it come by taxi?’ I asked him.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘About an hour ago.’
‘You didn’t get the number of the taxi, I don’t suppose?’ I asked.
‘No, sorry.’
‘Could you identify the taxi driver?’
‘I doubt it,’ he said. ‘Flat number 28 have been moving today and there have been a load of people through here. Not only the removal men but the gas and electricity, to read the meters and so on.’
‘Do you have security film?’ I asked, pointing at the bank of monitors.
‘Yes, but we only have cameras in the garages and round the back. There are none in reception.’
Dead end.
I looked at the envelope. It was white, about four inches wide by nine long, with ‘SID HALLEY — BY HAND’ written in capital letters on the front, as before.
‘This is the same as I received last time,’ I said to Charles. ‘After Marina was attacked.’
‘You ought to give it to the police,’ he said. ‘Don’t touch it.’
‘The envelope’s been handled by the taxi driver and by Derek,’ I said.
‘And Bernie,’ said Derek. ‘He took it from the taxi driver.’
Bernie was another of the team of porters/security.
I used Derek’s pencil to turn the envelope over. It was stuck shut. It looked like a birthday card.
‘I’ll open it,’ I said.
I used another sheet of paper to hold the envelope down on the desk and used the pencil to slit it open. Only touching the sides I withdrew the contents. It was a card but not a birthday card. It said, ‘Get Well Soon’ on the front, along with a painting of some flowers. I used the pencil to open it.
There was some writing, again in capital letters:
‘NEXT TIME SHE’LL LOSE A HAND. THEN SHE’LL BE A CRIPPLE, JUST LIKE YOU.’
Charles drew in his breath sharply. ‘Not much doubt about that, then.’
‘What does it say?’ said Jenny, coming closer and reading it. ‘Oh!’
‘Don’t let anyone touch this. I’m going to get something to put it into for the police,’ I said.
‘Can you get fingerprints off paper?’ said Charles.
‘I’m sure you can,’ I said.
‘You can also get DNA from saliva,’ said Rosie.
I turned to her. ‘So?’
‘If someone licked that envelope to stick it shut then they will have left their DNA on it,’ she said.
I stared at her. ‘But won’t it have dried out by now?’ I asked.
‘The DNA will still be there.’
‘Could you get a profile from it?’ I asked.
‘I can get a profile from a single fruit fly you can hardly see,’ she said, smiling. ‘This would be a piece of cake.’
‘Shouldn’t you leave that to the police?’ said Jenny.
‘There’s plenty of stick for both of us,’ said Rosie. ‘I would only need a tiny bit of the envelope. And I really want to do it.’ She looked at me.
‘So do I,’ I said. ‘I’ll fetch some scissors and two plastic bags.’
Derek had stood listening to it all.
‘Like something out of Agatha Christie,’ he said. ‘Death on Ebury Street.’
‘No one’s died yet,’ I said. At least not here. But I thought of Huw Walker and Bill Burton.
We went up to my flat and I raided the refrigerator to find some food. I made a plateful of ham and mustard sandwiches and found some bananas lurking in a fruit bowl behind the kitchen television. The others kindly let me have first go but then they also tucked in with relish.
I went into my office to find Marina’s parents’ number. I tried to call them but there was no answer. I wrote down their address to give to the police, just in case.
I went back into the sitting room. Rosie was on a mission and she wanted to go off to Lincoln’s Inn Fields straight away with her bag containing its piece of envelope.
‘What’s the hurry?’ I asked. ‘It takes hours for the stuff to move in that gel anyway.’
‘Not with the machine in my lab,’ said Rosie. ‘I can get results much quicker than Marina could. The whole thing would take me less than an hour.’
I knew that Rosie was desperate to do something that, in her eyes, would compensate for what she saw as her failure to keep Marina from harm and I wasn’t going to stop her. I was also interested to know if there was DNA on the envelope and if it matched our previous sample. It wouldn’t, however, give us the answer to the puzzle.
‘Do whatever you like,’ I said. ‘I’m going to change and then I’m going back to the hospital. I’ll call the Superintendent after I’ve gone and tell him to collect the card from reception. I don’t want to spend another age being interviewed.’
‘I don’t mind going with Rosie to her lab,’ said Charles. ‘We’ll come on to the hospital after.’
‘And I’ll go with Sid,’ said Jenny.
I left the car in the garage and we took two taxis. It was a long time since I’d been in a taxi alone with Jenny.
‘Just like old times,’ I said.
‘I was thinking the same. Funny old world.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Here I am, going with you to see the woman who’s taken my place and I am desperate that she should be all right.’
‘Are you?’ I asked.
‘Of course. I liked her last Sunday. You two go well together.’
I looked out as we passed Big Ben and absentmindedly checked my watch.
‘I do want you to be happy, you know,’ she said. ‘I know we’re divorced but it doesn’t mean I don’t care for you. I just couldn’t live with you. And…’ She tailed off.
‘Yes?’ I said. ‘And what?’
She didn’t answer. I didn’t press her. I really was glad she was here and I didn’t want to have a scene.
We arrived at the entrance to St Thomas’s and I started to get out of the cab.
Jenny put her hand on my arm, the real one. ‘I’m not sure how to put this,’ she said. ‘And obviously it’s not the reason I want her to get better but,’ she paused, ‘Marina… takes away my guilt.’
I sat back in the seat and looked at her. My dear Jenny. The girl I had once loved and ached for. The girl I thought I knew.
‘Are you getting out, guv’nor?’ asked the driver, breaking the trance.
