Josie did feel confused, but one thing she knew for certain was that Holly did not have an aunt. Not one that Holly knew of, anyway. No one from the past knew where they lived – Josie had made sure of that. And if she wanted it to stay that way, she needed to be very careful right now, because the last thing she needed was for the nurse to alert the police that something might be wrong and have them start digging. That would open a huge can of worms, and Josie couldn’t risk that.
‘Sorry,’ she murmured. ‘It freaked me out, waking up in here, but I’m OK now. It’ll be my, um, sister. Holly must have rung her and asked her to go round.’
‘That’ll be it.’ The nurse smiled and patted her shoulder. ‘Now let’s get you comfortable.’
Resting against the pillows after the nurse had raised the back of the bed up, Josie swallowed the tablets and then gulped the water down to douse the flames in her throat.
‘Better?’ the nurse asked, taking the tumbler from her hand and placing it on the table.
‘Yes, thanks. How long have I been here?’
‘A few hours,’ the nurse said, gazing at the watch that was pinned to her tunic as she checked Josie’s pulse.
‘Can’t you tell me what happened? Everything hurts. Was I run over?’
‘The police will explain when they get here.’
Someone on the other side of the curtain gave a small cough as the words left her mouth, and she smiled when she pulled it back and saw two police officers standing there.
‘Speak of the devil,’ she said, waving for them to come in. ‘PC Spencer?’ She looked at each of the men in turn.
‘That’s me,’ Spencer said. ‘And you’re Lorraine?’
‘I am.’ She smiled. ‘And this is Josie.’
Josie sank lower in the bed and eyed the officers warily.
‘Try not to overdo it,’ Lorraine said quietly to Spencer. ‘She was a bit confused when she woke up.’
‘We won’t keep her long,’ Spencer promised.
Lorraine gave Josie one last look then left them to it, swishing the curtain shut behind her. Spencer pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. He introduced himself and his colleague to Josie, and asked if she was up to talking to them.
She nodded, her gaze flicking from him to PC Bennett, who had moved to the end of bed and was blatantly reading her notes.
‘Do you know what happened?’ Spencer began.
‘No,’ she murmured. ‘The nurse said you’d tell me.’
‘You were assaulted,’ Spencer said, watching her face closely as he spoke.
‘Assaulted?’ Her eyes widened in shock. ‘W-what do you mean? I thought I’d been run over. That’s what it feels like.’
‘A man attacked you in the alleyway leading off the estate,’ Spencer told her. ‘Some lads disturbed him and he got away. They weren’t able to give a description because his face was covered, but we hoped you might remember something.’
A murky vision flashed into Josie’s mind and she closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the mattress when the bed lurched beneath her.
It was pitch-dark in the alley and she didn’t want to go down there, but the bus was due . . .
‘Josie?’ Spencer’s voice cut into her thoughts. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I – I feel a bit dizzy,’ she mumbled.
‘Do you need me to fetch the nurse?’
She shook her head and swallowed loudly, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. ‘I just want to go home,’ she whispered.
‘You’ve got a nasty bump on the back of your head, so I think you’ll be staying here for a couple of nights, at least,’ Spencer said. ‘You’re lucky those lads came along when they did or it could have been a lot worse.’
‘The next one might not be so lucky,’ Bennett said, slotting her notes back into the cradle. ‘And the sooner we catch him, the faster we’ll get him off the streets, so we need you to really think about what you might have seen or heard. Was he black, white, Asian? Were there any logos or colours on his jacket? Did he speak . . .?’
Josie’s head throbbed as the man fired the questions at her without giving her a chance to answer, and a shiver rippled down her spine when she closed her eyes and saw another hazy vision.
She’d been walking fast, trying to get to the main road, then she hit a wall and fell over. Only it wasn’t a wall, it was a man, and he’d covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her through the fence. And then . . .
‘Josie? Are you feeling dizzy again?’
Josie opened her eyes when Spencer’s voice filtered through the haze. His colleague was right: they needed to catch her attacker before he did this to somebody else. But if she told them that she remembered it, they’d keep coming back for more. And if they somehow managed to catch him, they’d expect her to go to court. She couldn’t risk that, so she shook her head, and said, ‘I was trying to remember, but there’s nothing. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s fine,’ Spencer said, trying to mask his disappointment. ‘We’ll leave it at that for now, but if you remember anything, no matter how small or insignificant you might think it is, let one of the nurses know and we’ll come back.’
‘I will,’ Josie lied.
‘I’ll give your daughter a call and let her know you’re awake,’ Spencer said as he stood up. ‘Her Aunt Suzie’s staying with her while you’re here,’ he added, giving her a meaningful look.
Suzie . . . Josie frowned as she silently repeated the name. She didn’t know anyone called Suzie, so why was it ringing a bell?
Holly had said it earlier! When they were eating, she’d said it was Bex’s mum’s name!
Relief washed over her, only to be instantly replaced by dread. Oh, God! The rich bitch was at her flat. What if she’d taken a look around and decided that Holly was being neglected because it
