City of Strangers by Louise Millar

Author:Louise Millar [Millar, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781447281108
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Paris

The footsteps seemed to take forever, approaching down a pristine white corridor, lined with tall windows out onto an inner courtyard.

A doctor with a tight bun and long white coat walked with Henri Taylor towards Grace through the Urgences Générales Department of a hospital in north-west Paris.

The doctor stopped, looked at a chart, then began to speak in French. ‘He’s been stabbed twice, in his shoulder and arm,’ Henri translated.

That sounded better than his kidney or liver. ‘How bad?’ Grace said, hopeful.

Henri translated, ‘Superficial. He won’t need an operation.’

‘That’s a relief.’

The translation continued: ‘He’s also been hit on the side of the head, and attacked with something. A club or piece of wood or something. There’s bruising on his torso, back and face . . .’ He broke off from the translation. ‘Someone’s given him a bit of a going-over, frankly.’

‘So it’s bad but not serious?’ Grace said. ‘Do you think that’s weird?’

‘You mean like a warning?’ Henri said.

‘Maybe.’

The doctor cleared her throat and continued.

Henri translated some more. ‘She says they’ve stitched the stab wounds. Dressings need to be changed in a week, or if they become dirty. Keep them dry, so no showers. If the redness spreads or the wounds become more painful, bring him back in case there’s an infection . . .’

He listened again. ‘He has a mild concussion but no fracture or signs of extradural bleed, so expect him to be a bit woozy and have a headache. Bring him back if he starts vomiting, seeing double or the headache worsens.’

The doctor spoke again, then lowered the chart.

‘She says he’s going to be in pain, so she’s given him painkillers. He’s fine to go home tonight, but, as she says, bring him back if anything changes.’

‘He can leave?’ Grace said, astonished.

The doctor turned serious brown eyes on Grace, gave her a firm nod, and left.

Henri waited a second for her to disappear, then turned to Grace. ‘What the hell happened?’

‘I’ll tell you in a minute. Where is he?’ Grace said.

‘The police are with him. They said you disturbed a mugging?’

She motioned Henri outside into the dark courtyard. A man in a dressing gown attached to a drip stand sat in the dark, smoking a cigarette.

Checking behind her, she held up Nicu’s camera bag. ‘This was beside him, with his camera – if it was a mugging, they need practice. It’s worth thousands.’

He frowned. ‘So, a warning, then?’

‘Not unless I scared them off, but I’m not exactly Rambo, so I doubt it.’

‘The Bouchers. How would they know you’re here?’

The man with the drip looked over. She lowered her voice. ‘Someone attacked Nicu’s boat in Amsterdam before we came – we think to stop us digging deeper and doing this story. We think it’s an associate of François Boucher stroke Lucian Tronescu in Amsterdam.’

‘Why not the Bouchers in Paris?’

‘Nicu thinks François has split from them. If he’s right, François’s associate must have followed us from Amsterdam.’

‘So do you want to tell the police now?’

‘Nicu needs to decide – it’s him they’ve attacked.

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