A Cornish Seaside Murder by Fiona Leitch

Author:Fiona Leitch [Leitch, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008525385
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Hospitals have never been my favourite place. Are they anyone’s? Probably not. But at least I wasn’t here as a patient, and I wasn’t visiting a loved one. Tony was right; Liam’s parents must be going out of their minds with worry.

I asked at reception, flashing my warrant card, and was given a room number. Into the lift, up three floors, into a beige corridor, and down to the end, where an efficient-looking woman sat at a nurses’ station. I got out my warrant card and asked for Liam again, and was taken down another corridor to a private room. Nathan and I had discussed the need to have a uniform outside, but with a limited number of officers it hadn’t been possible, so I was pleased that it was something of an epic quest to find him in the hospital maze.

The room door was shut, but there was a window from it out into the corridor. Through the glass I could see Liam lying on the bed, surrounded by machines and monitors, tubes and wires dangling from him. Poor kid. In a chair next to his bed sat his mother, my erstwhile school drama club buddy. She looked absolutely worn out, and old – much older than she actually was. A wave of guilt washed over me. We weren’t close friends anymore, but I was investigating the case, and we had been close once. I should’ve been the one to accompany Liam to hospital the night before. At the very least, I should’ve been here this morning to talk to his parents.

I knocked gently on the window, and she looked up. For a moment confusion crossed her face and I knew she hadn’t recognised me; but then it cleared and she gave me a weak smile. She turned back to her son, patting his hand and saying something to him, and then she got up and headed over to the door. I opened it for her and stood back to let her out.

‘Jodie. Thank you for coming,’ she said. It seemed to take all her energy to get the words out.

‘Oh, Donna…’ I said, and tears came to her eyes. I reached out and drew her in for a hug, and we stood there for a moment while she got herself together. She pulled away, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve, and then looked at me more shrewdly than I would’ve expected.

‘Is this a social or work visit?’ she asked. I smiled softly.

‘Bit of both. Shall we sit down?’ There was a row of chairs along the wall. I led her over to them and we sat down, the plastic hard and unyielding under my bottom.

‘Who’s done this, Jodie?’ she asked me. ‘Who would hurt my boy?’

‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘Not yet, anyway. But we will find out. If we can find out why, then we should be able to find out who.’

‘Is there a why, though? Sometimes bad things just happen to people…’

‘Sometimes, yes. But less often than you’d think.

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