As it rose through the building, she stared at her feet and rubbed at her right eye, refusing to glance at her reflection in the mirrored walls to her left and right.
Exiting the elevator, she pushed through the double doors of the reception area to the ward and flashed her badge at the nurse standing at the desk with a phone to her ear.
‘Peter Evans?’
The woman nodded and placed her hand over the receiver. ‘Through there,’ she said, and pointed to a corridor off to her left.
Kay held up her hand in thanks and took off down the corridor, fighting down a familiar sense of panic that had nothing to do with Peter Evans. Her head jerked up at the sound of murmured voices.
Sharp emerged through a door off to the right, then looked over his shoulder and stopped to speak to someone who was still in the room.
From her position outside, Kay glimpsed a uniformed police officer sitting on a chair pushed against the wall. Another stood with his hands clasped beside a small cabinet set to one side of the bed, and she realised Sharp would have organised round-the-clock surveillance to ensure Peter Evans didn’t try to take his life once more.
A doctor appeared and ushered Sharp from the room, then pulled the door closed behind him.
‘Your officers understand my patient has to rest?’ he said.
‘They do,’ said Sharp. ‘We can’t question him without his solicitor being present anyway, and I’m sure that’s not going to be happening tonight, is it?’
The doctor shook his head, and held out his hand. ‘I must be off,’ he said. ‘I’ll let you know if anything happens, but otherwise I’ll talk to you in the morning.’
‘Thanks.’
The doctor nodded at Kay as he passed, then disappeared down the corridor, his shoes squeaking on the polished floor with every step.
‘How is he?’ said Kay once the doctor was out of earshot.
‘He’ll live,’ said Sharp, his eyes weary.
‘What happened?’
He jerked his chin towards the exit. ‘Let’s find somewhere to have a coffee, and I’ll bring you up to speed.’
Kay fell into step beside him as he led the way from the ward and along the main corridor of the hospital. He ignored the elevators and instead pushed through double glass doors that led to a staircase. As they descended, he sighed.
‘You okay?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Long day.’
He opened the door at the next level to let her through, and they followed the signs to a small cafeteria.
Their footsteps echoed off the walls, the space abandoned, and only one set of lights shone above a glass counter and till, both of which were unmanned. Kay withdrew her purse and headed for the vending machine, selected two coffees and joined Sharp at a table he’d chosen towards the back of the empty café, his back to the wall, facing the exit.
Kay placed the two plastic cups on the table between them and lowered her bag to the floor before sliding into the seat opposite him.
‘What happened?’
Sharp leaned back in his seat and swept imaginary crumbs from the table. ‘He somehow loosened a screw from the cot in the cell, hid it in his sleeve or somewhere, and used it to slash his wrists.’
‘Oh, shit,’ she breathed.
‘His solicitor was meeting with him in a side room off to the custody suite. When they’d finished, the solicitor went to find the custody sergeant to let him know Peter could be taken back to his cell. By the time they returned, Peter had collapsed.’
‘Jesus – didn’t the solicitor think to go back to the room and wait with him?’
Sharp shook his head. ‘It seems he thought it was more important to remonstrate with the custody sergeant about how long it was taking to process other suspects – there was a fight at one of the bars in town and uniform had brought three men in. It wasn’t until those had been processed that they got around to returning to Peter. They managed to bandage him up and stem the flow by laying him down and keeping his arms elevated before the ambulance arrived, but he still needed a transfusion as soon as he got here. The scars are going to be horrendous.’
Kay picked up her coffee and forced herself to take a sip while her mind ran through all the different scenarios they would be faced with over the coming days.
The implications for the case would be extensive. There would be an immediate investigation, of course. Accusations would fly, policies and procedures would be scrutinised, and in the midst of all of it, the team would still be expected to deliver a result to convict Sophie’s killer.
‘It’s my mistake,’ said Sharp. ‘I organised the suicide watch for when he was in his cell. I should’ve insisted on him being under constant observation.’
‘You could never have foreseen this,’ said Kay. ‘No-one could. If he was that determined to commit suicide, then we’d have needed eyes in the back of our head to stop him.’
Sharp ran a hand over tired eyes. ‘Maybe.’ He reached out for the coffee, and then changed his mind.
‘You couldn’t have known he was going to react this way.’
‘Yeah,’ he sighed.
‘What happens next?’
‘I’ve spoken to Larch. We’ve got a meeting with the Chief Superintendent and the media advisor at seven o’clock tomorrow—’ He broke off and checked his watch. ‘This morning. We’ll have the usual team briefing at eight o’clock and I’ll bring you all up to speed then. Can you phone everyone first thing to make sure they get there at least twenty minutes beforehand? I don’t want any stragglers.’
‘Will do.’ Kay dug out her mobile phone and set the alarm on it for five o’clock, which would give her time to have a quick shower then phone the team and get them to spread the word amongst the administrative support staff as well. ‘Peter Evans
