‘How are we getting on?’ Lorraine popped her head round the curtain.
‘We’re leaving,’ Spencer said. ‘I’m sure her daughter will want to see her when she hears she’s awake, so when should I tell her to come?’
‘Visiting starts at two,’ Lorraine said. ‘But if she wants to pop in a little earlier with some of her mum’s things, that’d be fine.’
‘I’ll let her know,’ Spencer said. Then, to Josie, he added, ‘I’ll try to call in again tomorrow, but if you remember anything in the meantime—’
‘Tell the nurse,’ Josie murmured.
Nodding, Spencer smiled and said goodbye, then he, his colleague and the nurse left her.
Unable to see past the curtain, she listened as their footsteps receded. The pain in her head was becoming duller and she guessed the tablets must have started to kick in. Grateful for that, but aware that she didn’t have much time as a sluggish feeling began to creep over her, she was about to sit up when she heard something beeping on the other side of the room. Footsteps entered and she heard muffled voices, then the curtain billowed inward as another bed was wheeled quickly past the end of hers.
When silence fell over the room again, she sat up and eased her heavy, bruised legs over the side of the mattress. She looked around for her clothes but they weren’t there, and she guessed the police must have taken them to check for traces of her attacker’s DNA. Her shoes were under the chair, however, and her handbag was inside the bedside cabinet when she checked. Pulling it out, she rooted her phone out from the mess of tissues and receipts inside, intending to call Holly and tell her that she was coming home and warn her not to let Bex’s mum snoop around.
The battery was flat, and she muttered a curse under her breath when she remembered that she’d forgotten to charge it; she’d been too busy shopping and then cooking the stupid stew to think about it. Dropping the phone back into her bag, she was relieved to find that her purse hadn’t been stolen and the small amount of money she’d had in it was still there. A quick count told her that she had just enough for a taxi home, so she put it away and carefully slid off the bed and peeked out into the room.
There were no nurses in sight, either in here or out on the corridor. Bending over as far as her sore stomach and the pain in her side would allow, so that the woman who was still staring up at the ceiling in the corner bed wouldn’t see her and raise the alarm, she crept out from behind the curtain and made her way over to the cabinet beside the now missing bed. She eased the door open, keeping an eye on the other beds and the door, and her heart leapt when she saw a neatly folded coat on top of a pile of clothes on the bottom shelf. Sliding it out, she quickly closed the door at the sound of approaching footsteps and hobbled back to her own bed, stashing the coat in her cabinet seconds before the nurse came through the curtain.
‘Hey, what are you doing?’ Lorraine chided, taking hold of her arm. ‘I told you I’d bring you a bedpan if you needed the toilet.’
‘I’m not going to the toilet, I’m going home,’ Josie snapped, shrugging her hand off.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lorraine said. ‘Doctor Ross will be in to see you soon; she’ll decide when you’re ready to be discharged.’
‘Am I under arrest?’ Josie asked, irritated by the woman’s school-marmish manner.
‘No, of course not.’
‘Then I’m going,’ Josie said, reaching for her handbag. ‘And, don’t worry, I’m not nicking your gown. I’ll fetch it back when I’ve washed it.’
‘I’m not concerned about that, I’m concerned about you,’ Lorraine argued. ‘You’ve had a trauma to your head and we need to monitor you for the next twenty-four hours, make sure there are no complications.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Josie insisted.
A young female doctor appeared. Hesitating when she saw Josie on her feet, she glanced down at the folder in her hand, before asking, ‘Is this Ms Evans?’
‘Yes, and she’s trying to leave,’ said Lorraine. ‘I’ve told her it’s not advisable.’
‘And I told you I’ll be fine,’ Josie interjected.
‘We can’t force you to stay,’ the doctor said, ‘but I’d be a lot happier if you did.’
‘I can’t,’ Josie said, hitching the strap of her bag over her shoulder. A pain seared through her side as she did it, and she put her hand down on the bed and breathed in deeply.
‘I need to take a look at that,’ the doctor said, gesturing for her to get onto the bed. ‘Your coat stopped the knife from going in too far, but it did pierce your skin, so we don’t want to be taking any chances with it.’
‘Knife?’ Josie repeated, gaping at her. ‘He stabbed me?’
‘As I said, your coat took the brunt of it, but we don’t want you opening the wound and getting infected, so if we could just take a look?’
Too shocked to argue, Josie lay down. The nurse lifted the gown over her stomach and the doctor gently peeled back the dressing Josie hadn’t noticed until then. Arching her neck to look, Josie sucked in a breath when she saw the angry wound in the flesh above her left hip. It was tiny, but the dried blood around it and on the dressing told her that it must have bled out for some time.
‘It looks OK, but I think we’ll redress it,’ the doctor said. ‘And I’d still prefer to keep you in overnight, Ms Evans – just to be on the safe side.’
Sensing that they were going to keep hassling her until she agreed, Josie sighed, and said, ‘Fine. Whatever.’
‘Good girl,’ Lorraine smiled.
Flashing a furious look at the bitch from beneath her lashes, Josie turned slowly
