Nancy pushes a fist against her lips to muffle the scream that almost bursts out.
DS Branning frowns. “I know what I’m doing.”
Chapter Six
“He is stable now. We need to run a battery of tests … Go home and get some rest.” The University College Hospital registrar was sitting on the chair next to Cora’s. Ollie had slipped into a coma after resuscitation proved successful. There was nothing more she could do but wait for the results. The doctor warned her these would take some time.
She was holding an untouched cup of tea in both hands. She was nodding at what the doctor was telling her, still not wanting to accept the consequences.
The man she loved was no drug addict, not the sort of person who would end up in a heroin den, or perhaps she did not know Ollie at all.
The thought stabbed her heart, and she squeezed the cup hard, a little tea slopped out, wetting her fingers. She couldn’t tell whether the liquid was warm or cold.
Nancy was sitting on the other side of her. She too had been shocked at the news. But less so than she would have expected her to be. The world of criminal law she frequented as Queen’s Counsel had shown her the dark side, often hidden, of human nature.
Cora was yet again on the brink of losing someone she cared for completely. Eight years earlier, she had suffered a great loss. History seemed to want to repeat itself in an unbearable loop.
“You’re very welcome to stay at my place … The spare room is already prepared.” Nancy had gently laid a hand on her forearm, her eyes made a little fuller by concern and kindness.
Cora shook her head.
“I don’t want to seem ungrateful after all you and Jonathan have done for me, but I’d prefer to stay with Beth, Charlie and Johnny. They’ll say yes, I know.”
“You’d like to be close to your home.” Nancy nodded.
“It’s strange but I feel I need to be there … Somehow to be able to look after it, even if I can’t just yet.”
Nancy searched Cora’s face with an intense look she had never seen before. It made her recoil a little. Nancy pulled back. “Alright … But please stay out of trouble … If anything comes up you must call me.”
“Promise … And there is officer … Branning.”
They almost managed a smile. Cora wondered how her protection officer would fare in the midst of an artist community that did not care very much about rules and conventions.
“What about your friend Nat?”
“Natalie … She’ll be there for me too. She lives in Camden, but with her motorbike she can come round in no time. We see her almost every day.”
The beep of the doctor’s pager told him he was wanted for another emergency. Cora grabbed the sleeve of his white coat before he stood up.
“As soon as you hear the results …”
He nodded as reassuringly as he could. “You will know the minute I know.”
The pager sounded again, and he disappeared in a slow jog around the corner.
It had been good that he had spent time with her, but she couldn’t help wondering whether he had been preparing her for the worst .
Pole had appeared at the far end of the corridor. He slowed down and Cora noticed his hesitation. She waved him in with a small gesture, almost childish. Pole joined them and sat in the chair the doctor had just vacated.
The kind-man-chair. Cora sighed.
“What have you decided?”
“I’m going back to the building … Staying with friends. Nancy’s met them.”
Pole leaned back to look at Nancy. She nodded.
“And I’ll have the protection of DS Branning.”
“It’s your choice, of course …” Pole let the sentence hang but Cora shook her head.
“I’ve got to be there.”
“Fine, I’ll speak to Branning”
“Inspector Pole …” Cora hesitated and Pole raised an eyebrow. She had seldom trusted anyone in the police. Nancy was smiling at him without noticing. Cora felt she could for once let her guard down.
“How did you find Ollie?”
“When someone goes missing, the NCA activates a number of channels … someone on one of those channels came through.”
“So, it was a tip-off?”
Pole thought about it for a short moment. “You could call it that.”
“So, it was a tip-off.” Cora murmured.
* * *
Nancy hugged Cora before she left. Her thin yet athletic body slumped in her arms. Pole stood aside, giving the friends space to say goodbye. Cora was just managing to keep her head above water, but returning to friends and the community of artists she felt close to was what she needed.
“Do you trust DS Branning?” Nancy asked as both Cora and Branning disappeared down the corridor. She didn’t need to pretend with Pole.
“You mean male, white, a bit pudgy and a tad misogynistic?”
“You know me too well, Jonathan.”
Pole smiled. “Do I?” He extended a hand and gently placed it on Nancy’s back.
“Branning is good at his job despite all his other … attributes.”
“Won’t take no for an answer or be deterred easily?”
“That’s the sum of it.”
Nancy turned towards him. “I’m not hugely hungry but I could do with a small something.”
“There is not much around here, unless we tried the Wellcome Collection Cafe?”
“Normally I would say that’s a really good idea and we could perhaps have spent some time wandering through their temporary exhibition, but today I’d rather go somewhere quieter.”
“The British Library members’ room?”
“Too busy …” Nancy had opened the clasp that held her jet black hair together. She let it fall loose onto her shoulders. She took a fancy little lemon beret out of her coat pocket and fitted it onto her head.
“Let’s try further afield then.” Pole bent to pick up her handbag which he handed to her. It was an attractive cross between a fashionable bag
