I stared at the clothes, knowing they weren’t mine. But that wasn’t going to stop me. If my
clothes weren’t to hand I’d take someone else’s.
I pulled on the pair of blue and white check socks I found stuck in the shoes. I put the shoes
on: they fitted me as if they were made for me. The shirt was a fit, too, and so was the suit.
It took me over ten minutes to get dressed, and I was feeling pretty bad by the time I was
through. I had to sit on the bed until my heart stopped racing. I was panting like a worn-out
horse.
I nearly forgot the hat, but that was important. I had to have something to hide the bandages
around my head. I got it on. It was right, and it made my head ache, but I had to wear it.
Then I crept over to the door, eased it open and glanced into the passage.
At the far end standing at the head of the stairs, were two cops; their backs to me. They
stood with their hands behind them, and every now and then they flexed their knees the way
cops do on the movies.
I looked to my right, but the corridor ended in big double windows. My only way out was
down the stairs, and I wouldn’t get far with those cops waiting there to stop me.
I closed the door and sneaked over to the window. Apart from being on the sixth floor, the
ground below was packed with patients sun bathing. If I tried going out that way I’d be
spotted in seconds.
While I was trying to figure a way out, I heard voices in the corridor. Creeping over to the
door I opened it a crack and peered out, ready to make a dive for the bed.
There was a nurse and a guy in a white coat out there. They were manoeuvring a wheeled
trolley into the room opposite mine.
I waited, my eyes on the clock on the overmantel. It was now ten minutes to seven. Time
was running out. I had only twenty minutes before the nurse arrived with my supper. If I were
going to get out I’d have to do something fast.
I was still at the door, trying to make up my mind what to do when the nurse and the
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attendant reappeared.
“I’ll take her down after I’ve seen the doc,” he said. “I’ve forgotten the mortician’s
certificate.”
“One of these days you’ll forget your head, not that it would be a great loss,” the nurse said
tartly, and turned away.
The attendant made a pass at her, but she anticipated it and whisked her rear out of reach.
“And if you don’t keep your paws …”
“I know. I know,” the attendant said wearily. “You’ll tell the matron. Why don’t you relax
sometime?”
The nurse walked off down the corridor, and the attendant followed her. The two cops
obligingly stood aside to let them go down the stairs.
I stood hesitating, then I eased open the door. The cops were leaning over the banisters;
probably watching the nurse out of sight. Their backs were to me.
The attendant had given me the clue, and I sneaked across the corridor, turned the handle of
the door opposite eased it open and stepped inside. I was ready to jump out of my skin, and
very nearly did when I saw a body under a sheet on the trolley.
I took hold of the corner of the sheet and lifted it. I was shaking now from head to foot. The
dead woman looked as if she were asleep. What I was about to do horrified me, but I knew if
I didn’t go through with it I wasn’t going to get away. I looked frantically around the room
for a place to hide her, but there was nowhere. Close by was another door. I opened it an inch
and peered into a luxuriously fitted bathroom.
I ran back to the trolley and wheeled it into the bathroom. Then I stripped off the sheet and
