‘Couldn’t settle to anything. The world seemed pretty flat after the Falklands.’ Chalky sighed. ‘I should have stayed a soldier. I got a buzz out of going to war.’
Jackson glanced at Acland’s face in the rear-view mirror, but if he had any fellow-feeling with Chalky’s views, he wasn’t showing it. ‘What rank were you?’
‘Made it to corporal just before we left for the South Atlantic. Best year of my bloody life that was . . . been downhill ever since.’
This time Acland did show some interest. ‘Which regiment?’ he asked.
‘Two Para.’
‘Which company?’
‘B Company.’
‘So you were in the attack on Goose Green?’
Chalky lifted a grimy thumb in the air. ‘Certainly was. It was us took Boca Hill. I lost a good mate there.’ He shook his head in sudden wistful nostalgia. ‘We joined up together and I can hardly remember what he looked like now . . . Makes you think, doesn’t it?’
Acland stared out of the window as Jackson turned on to Waterloo Bridge. The river was only beautiful at night, when the lights along its banks gleamed like diamonds on black velvet, and the Palace of Westminster, lit by arc lamps, looked more like a fairy castle than the seat of government. In daylight hours, with the embankments and bridges thronged with people and cars, he could see no beauty in it at all. ‘So how come a corporal from 2 Para ends up drinking meths in the gutter?’ he asked harshly.
Surprisingly, Chalky didn’t take offence. ‘I never drink the
‘That’s not an answer. You wouldn’t have made corporal if you hadn’t had something going for you. What happened to that person?’
Chalky shrugged. ‘Who knows, son? Maybe he just got lost on the Falklands.’
Fourteen
THE AMBULANCE HAD ALREADY arrived by the time Jackson turned off Lambeth Palace Road into St Thomas’s A&E entrance. With every emergency parking space taken, she glanced at Acland in the mirror and asked him if he had a valid driving licence.
He nodded. ‘No one’s asked for it back yet.’
She pulled over and opened her door. ‘There’s a staff car park round the side. Find the main entrance and follow the signs. I just need a couple of minutes to check through the kid’s things . . . see if I can find out who he is. If you’re challenged, show this – ’ she pointed to a medical priority sticker on her dashboard – ‘and ask them to page Trevor Monaghan or phone me on this number.’ She took a card from her pocket and passed it back to him.
‘Don’t go looking through anything of mine,’ said Chalky firmly. ‘The black rucksack belongs to the lad . . . everything else belongs to me . . . and it’s private.’
Jackson eased out from behind the wheel. ‘You’re safe on that score,’ she said sarcastically. ‘I’m not in the habit of rifling through plastic carrier bags full of rubbish.’
She opened Acland’s door and handed him the keys. ‘You’re very trusting,’ he said, climbing out. ‘Why shouldn’t I be? You’re not planning to steal a BMW, are you?’ He watched while she opened the boot and made a quick search of Ben’s rucksack. ‘I haven’t driven since I lost my eye.’ ‘So? You can see well enough to climb railings.’ She removed a label from the inside flap with a name, Mr B. Russell, and an address in Wolverhampton. ‘I’ll take this for the moment, but can you go through his things with a fine-tooth comb after you’ve parked? We need home address, surname and next of kin.’
‘Shouldn’t the hospital do it?’
‘It’ll be quicker this way.’ She took out her medical case and slammed the boot shut again. ‘Bring the bag to reception when you’ve finished and ask them to page me or Dr Monaghan –’ she eyed him for a moment – ‘and don’t leave Chalky alone in my car. I’d prefer the contents to be intact when I come back.’
Acland wanted to tell her that he knew what she was doing – tying him to a responsibility he hadn’t asked for – but she was gone before he could say it. In any case, part of him rose to the occasion, even if he recognized, and resented, how easily Jackson manipulated him.
‘You sure you can drive this thing?’ asked Chalky suspiciously as Acland climbed in beside him and turned his head to focus his good eye on the gearbox. ‘I notice no one asked me what I thought about it.’
Acland saw with relief that the car was an automatic. ‘If you want to make yourself useful, help me get out of here. Shout if I get too close to anything on my left.’
In the event, it was more by luck than good judgement that Acland made it safely to the car park. Chalky was about as much use as a maiden aunt who’d never been in a car in her life. He peered religiously out of his window but, with a complete lack of spatial awareness, he failed to mention a single hazard until after it had passed.
‘You damn near hit a bollard back there,’ he said helpfully as Acland killed the engine.
‘Thanks for warning me.’
‘Didn’t need to. You were doing OK on your own.’ He pulled a baccy tin out of his coat pocket and started to shred wisps of tobacco on to a Rizla. ‘So what’s the plan?’
‘We both get out so you don’t pollute the doctor’s car any further.’
‘She’s some woman,’ said Chalky, rolling the paper in his fingers. ‘Seems pretty interested in you.’
