She should have known better than to think she could fool them. “I’m sure.”
“You swear?”
“I swear,” Eileen said.
Binnie pelted down the corridor. “I take it those are the fabled Hodbins,” Polly said, looking after them.
“Yes, and if anyone can find Mr. Bartholomew, they can.”
She led Polly back to the spot where Dr. Cross had told her to wait, said, “Someone inside will be able to tell you where the admitting desk is, Polly. And the ambulance room entrance,” and hurried upstairs.
She’d hoped the busyness and disorganization would enable her to sneak unnoticed into the wards, but a matron stopped her. “No one’s allowed up here—you’re injured. Orderly!” the matron called. She took Eileen’s arm and attempted to steer her to a chair. “Where are you bleeding?”
“It’s not my blood,” Eileen said, cursing herself for not taking off her coat. “I’m Dr. Cross’s driver. He sent me to ask about a patient who was admitted here tonight, a member of the St. Paul’s fire watch.”
“The men’s wards are on the second and third floors.”
“Thank you,” Eileen said, and ran upstairs, pausing on the landing to shed her coat, drape it over the railing, and use her handkerchief and spit to rub the worst of the caked blood off her wrists and hands before going on up.
There was no matron on second, but a nurse came out of the first ward as she was going in. She went through her story again. “What’s the patient’s injury?” the nurse asked.
“Dr. Cross didn’t tell me,” Eileen said. “Two other firewatchers brought him in, Mr. Bartholomew and Mr. Humphreys.” She described them.
The nurse shook her head. “They wouldn’t be on the ward. No one but patients is allowed on this floor.” But Eileen went through the litany with nurses outside each of the wards, hoping one of them might know where Mr. Bartholomew was, and then went up to third. It took forever, and she felt as if she was still in the ambulance, dealing with endless detours and blocked-off lanes.
There was no sign of Mr. Bartholomew or Mr. Humphreys. Or of Alf and Binnie. They’ve probably already managed to get themselves thrown out, she thought, but as she ran down to Admitting, she thought she glimpsed them darting around a corner.
Polly hadn’t had any luck either. “The admitting nurse went to ask if anyone in the emergency ward knows anything,” she said, “but she’s been gone forever. I’m afraid she may have been waylaid to help out with patients.”
The way I was with the ambulance, Eileen thought. “The firewatcher wasn’t in the patient roster?”
“No.”
“Are you certain he was brought here?”
“Yes,” Polly said, then looked uncertain. “That is, the firewatcher I talked to said he thought they’d come here, but if the roads were blocked, they might have taken him to Guy’s.”
“No, it caught fire. They had to evacuate.”
“Where were they taking the patients?”
“I don’t know,” Eileen said. And if they set off to some other hospital, they might miss him, the way she and Polly had missed each other that day she’d gone to Townsend Brothers. “They might not even be here yet,” she said. “You may have been able to come here faster on foot, there are so many roads blocked. I’ll go check the ambulance entrance.”
If I can find it, she added silently, and set off to look for it, but before she was halfway down the corridor Polly called her back.
The nurse had returned. “I found the patient you were looking for,” she said. “Mr. Langby.”
“Where is he?” Polly asked.
“He’s just been taken upstairs from surgery.”
Eileen and Polly started toward the stairs, and the nurse moved swiftly to block their way. “I’m afraid no one’s allowed in the recovery room. If you’d like, you can wait in the waiting room.”
“Two men brought him in,” Polly said. “Members of the fire watch. Can you tell us where they are?”
And when the nurse seemed to hesitate, Eileen put in, “Dr. Cross sent me to find out. I’m his driver.”
“Oh,” the nurse said. “Of course. I’ll go and see.”
“One’s elderly and the other’s tall with dark hair,” Eileen called after the nurse, and described what she thought they were wearing.
“One’s elderly and the other’s tall with dark hair,” Eileen called after the nurse, and described what she thought they were wearing.
“And let’s hope she doesn’t run into Dr. Cross while she’s finding out,” she said to Polly.
Binnie came tearing up. “I been to all the wards, and ’e ain’t there. You want me to go look someplace else?”
“No, stay here till the nurse comes back,” Eileen said. If the nurse didn’t bring any information, they could send her to surgery. “Where’s Alf?”
“I dunno,” Binnie said. “Me and ’im split up. Do you want I should go look for ’im?”
“No.” Eileen grabbed her to ensure she didn’t.
The nurse returned. “I spoke with the ambulance driver who brought Mr. Langby in. She said only one member
