“You’re not making any sense, Megan. These men served time in prison, justice has been served.”
“Not in God’s eyes. An eye for an eye. I’ll ensure that happens.” Megan refused to debate the matter further. “I love you all, never forget that,” she called over her shoulder as she left the ward.
Her aunt didn’t try to stop her. Instead, she remained seated by Daniel’s side as usual. If only Megan could have drawn off her aunt’s strength all these years. Her head was a mess, apparently, she no longer recognised right from wrong. Her parents lived in her head, guiding her movements. They were a constant form of comfort and demand on her at the same time.
She kept her head low and marched past the officers waiting in the hallway. One of them cast a suspicious eye her way. Her heart rate spiked until she rounded the corner at the end. Out of sight, she bolted down the hallway and jumped on the lift. As the doors closed, the officer appeared. “Wait! Megan, come back.”
Shit! They know you’re here now. You’ve fucked up, girl. Her mother’s voice chastised her.
No, not necessarily. Her father chimed in. She needs to leg it to the car. You’ve got this, Megan, we believe in you. Don’t let us down now.
“I’ve never let you down in the past, I don’t intend doing it now.”
The lift doors whooshed open. She squeezed through the gap once it was large enough and ran past the reception area and out into the fresh air. Sirens could be heard a few streets away. She had no idea if they belonged to an ambulance or a police car. Keeping her head low, she made her way back to her vehicle, casting an anxious glance over her shoulder every now and again.
Megan blew out a relieved breath once she was sitting behind the steering wheel. She drove away, her mind full of putting the final two pieces of the puzzle in place.
12
Katy and Charlie were just about to leave the station when the call came in. The desk sergeant raised a hand to prevent them from walking out the main doors.
“DI Foster, you’ll want to hear this.”
Katy took three steps and stood anxiously, awaiting further news in front of his desk. “What is it?”
She glanced nervously in Charlie’s direction. Charlie appeared to be equally anxious and chewed on her lower lip.
Katy motioned for the desk sergeant to hurry up. “Come on. What’s going on?”
He ended the call and released a long sigh. “My lads have touched base to say they believe Megan showed up at the hospital.”
“That’s great news, what am I missing?” she asked, noting his worried expression.
“She got away from them.”
“What?” Katy shouted. “They had one frigging job to do and they failed to bloody do it. How?”
“In their defence, she was dressed as a nurse. One of my guys got suspicious as she walked past them, he chased her, but she lost him in the grounds of the hospital. All I can do is apologise.”
Katy kicked out at the panel below the reception desk. “That’s all we sodding need. What now? Was the boy with her? How long was she there? Did she see her family?”
“Watson said she was alone. She came out of ICU, so I’m presuming she must have spoken to her family or at least laid eyes on them. No idea how long she was there, do you want me to call him back to check?”
“No, it doesn’t matter. The damage has already been done, she slipped out of our grasp and is probably now on the run. I just hope the boy is still alive and she hasn’t dumped his body somewhere.”
“Don’t say that, boss,” Charlie muttered. “What do you want to do?”
Katy kicked out at the panel again. “Well, that’s put paid to us going home this evening. You can, but I refuse to let this lie. I need to be out there, searching for her, we’re not doing any good twiddling our thumbs around here.”
“If you’re staying, then so am I,” Charlie insisted.
“You’re the best, Charlie. Come on, let’s go back upstairs.”
Charlie’s brow furrowed. “I thought we’d be better off out there, searching for her?”
“We’ll do that after I’ve fuelled up with coffee.”
Katy was still fuming as she neared the end of her drink. She and Charlie had spent the last ten minutes bouncing ideas around.
“I suppose, going to her place of work is out of the question,” Charlie suggested. She placed her cup on the desk and rose to her feet.
“On a Sunday, yes. Maybe we should have contacted them sooner. I’m at fault there. Everything escalated pretty quickly, catching us off-guard.” Katy stood and stretched out the knots fusing her spine together.
“Where are we going to start the search?”
Katy shrugged and pulled a face. “Your guess is as good as mine. I think maybe we should head back to the hospital, see if the aunt can give us a possible list of friends we can try.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, that’s unlikely, given that she was whisked away by an ambulance, she would have hardly thought to have grabbed her address book before she left the house.”
Katy kicked out at a nearby chair and caught her shin. “Shit! I must stop doing that, it was only a matter of time before the chair took revenge.” She rubbed her leg until the throbbing ceased. “We’re wasting time hanging around here, let’s go.”
They rushed out of the station. On the way, Katy stopped off to speak to the desk sergeant to make him aware of their intentions. “Ring me if the slightest
