‘A toe…’
‘Big toes are extraneous,’ he smiled wearily. ‘Missing thumbs are a real pest. We’ll give her the choice in the morning. But for now…for now…’
For now Ethel needed to sleep. She lay shrunken and pallid on the trolley as she started to breathe normally and Jessie’s heart went out to her.
‘What about Barry?’ she asked as Geraldine wheeled Ethel out into the ward and Niall and Jess removed their gowns at the sink.
‘I’ll go to the lock-up now,’ Niall told her. ‘I’d prefer to dress his hand there. Sergeant Russell will keep him under observation for the night-and I’d rather have him making a fuss out of earshot of Ethel.’
‘I’d like to know why she locked him out.’
‘Some of those bruises are recent,’ Niall said grimly. ‘And by the look of her arm I’d say there’s a break that hasn’t been set properly. If I had to guess I’d say the lady’s been living in fear for quite a while.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll go now and dress Barry’s hand and come back…’
‘You’ll stay here the night?’
‘I’d rather be close until Ethel’s stabilised,’ he said. ‘Paige will be right with Hugo. Ethel’s fairly traumatised-and she’s lost a lot of blood.’
Jess nodded. ‘I’ll…I’ll go to bed, then,’ she told him softly. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘You do that,’ he smiled and touched her face lightly with one finger. ‘You do that.’
CHAPTER NINE
BED…
Not yet. First there were her two little orphans.
For Jess there were always her two-or more-little orphans. They were restless when she got back to her flat, the little wallaby out of his pouch and nosing around the kitchen. Jess sat on the floor by the stove and gave them their milk, using the time to settle her jangled nerves.
She should relax…
She couldn’t.
Niall was gone. He was down at the police station attending the awful Barry.
So…
If Niall was gone why were her senses alight as though electrified? Her whole body seemed to be straining- listening for his return.
He’d go straight to his flat, she told herself crossly. There was no reason for him to come past her room.
He’d check Ethel again.
He could come this way.
It didn’t matter if he did. He’d just walk straight down the corridor, check Ethel, keep going, turn left and go to his side of the hospital.
Right.
So she should get into bed and not sit here by the fire nursing stupid wallabies and listening for stupid footsteps.
‘I’m going nuts,’ she told the little wallaby, and the tiny animal looked up as though in complete agreement.
A car.
The ambulance returning from the police station.
Footsteps down the corridor. They checked outside Ethel’s room. Paused. Stayed for ten minutes. There was a low conversation at the ward door as Niall gave Geraldine her instructions for the night.
The footsteps came on.
Down the corridor and turn left.
Down the corridor…
They didn’t turn left. The footsteps stopped right outside Jessie’s door.
She was hardly breathing. Somehow her lungs had stopped-or was it her heart?
‘Jess?’ A light tap on the door-not loud enough to be heard by Geraldine. ‘Awake?’
No. She shouldn’t be awake. She should be inside her bed with the bedroom door locked and with chains on her heart
Instead of which she was placing the tiny wallaby on the floor and crossing to open the door.
‘Niall…’
‘Who did you think it was?’ he asked wickedly. ‘Santa Claus?’
‘It might have been a call,’ she said with quiet dignity. ‘I do get them.’
‘Surely your farmers don’t come scratching on your bedroom door at three in the morning?’ he teased. He took a step into the room but paused as Jess laid a warning hand on his arm. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Wilfred’s out,’ she said briefly. ‘Watch your feet.’
‘Wilfred?‘ Niall looked around-and then down. His eyes creased into a smile at the sight of the little wallaby nosing his shoes. ‘Wilfred,’ he said in satisfaction, leaning over and scooping the joey into his large hand. ‘Haven’t you heard it’s time youngsters were in bed?’
‘He’s a nocturnal animal,’ Jess smiled, moving aside to let Niall come closer to the fire. ‘In another month or so I’ll be starting to prepare him for release.’
‘How do you do that?’
‘I put him out on the verandah at first,’ Jess told him. She was having trouble making her voice work. Niall’s presence filled the room.
‘He learns to come and go as he pleases. I start weaning him off milk. When he’s thoroughly weaned I move his pouch out near the back fence and start putting pellets on both sides of the boundary. The wild wallabies come in to feed-and Wilfred feeds alongside them, with the fence between them. After a few months I open the gate at night so that the wild wallabies can come in-or Wilfred can go out.’
‘It’s a long process,’ Niall said thoughtfully.
‘Any faster and the wild animals will kill him,’ Jess said. ‘After he’s acclimatised I go back to laying pellets further from the fence on the outer side of the boundary-I’m doing that now-so animals I’ve already released always have a fall-back position.’ She smiled. ‘So they’re released-but I usually keep track of them for ever. That’s the plan, at any rate.’
‘For ever,’ Niall said slowly. ‘That’s a long time, Jess.’
‘I’m in no hurry,’ she said equably. Then, at the look on Niall’s face, her composure left her. ‘How…how was Barry?’
‘Aggressive. Belligerent. Foul-mouthed. Called his wife every name in the book-and a few more besides. Sergeant Russell ended up charging him with assault so we can keep him locked up and I don’t have to admit him here.’
‘Can you do that?’ Jess said doubtfully. ‘If he was on the other side of the wall then he wouldn’t know where Ethel’s hand was.’
‘I’m not saying tonight was any more than a stupid, mindless accident,’ Niall told her. ‘But there’s the bruising, the unset broken arm and your evidence.’
‘She won’t lay charges.’
‘My evidence will hold him until she’s fit to decide whether to lay charges or not,’ Niall said in satisfaction. ‘I’ve given her a fair dose of pethidine now with orders that it be repeated two-hourly. If she doesn’t need pain relief she sure as heck needs a sedative. She’s been through a shocking experience. The lady will sleep-or will be reported to be sleeping-until we can arrange an air ambulance to the mainland. It might have to wait until she’s in Sydney before the police interview her. With luck Barry might have to kick his heels in the lock-up for two days.’
‘You and Sergeant Russell thought that up,’ Jess accused and Niall grinned.
‘We’re just following the law. And sometimes the law is a very handy thing. And very, very slow.’
‘I see.’
