The Memory Key by Fitzgerald Conor

Author:Fitzgerald, Conor [Fitzgerald, Conor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Police Procedurals, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 1620401118
Amazon: B00CYB0QXO
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2013-08-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Blume headed across town from one hospital to another, and when he reached his destination, he found he had no memory of the trip he had just made. Panebianco was waiting for him in the main lobby. Blume appreciated the gesture. It saved him the necessity of seeking out someone to ask where to go, and someone else to tell him what was happening. In fact, from the second he saw Panebianco’s face, Blume knew he could relax a little. Panebianco looked grave, but not stricken.

‘This way.’ He led Blume upstairs and down corridors. The walk had a surreal quality to it. The air in the hospital, passed through the mouths of patients and their visitors, lost most of its oxygen content and grew heavier and warmer as they went deeper into the building. The panic in his soul was becoming swamped with a sense of lethargy.

After what seemed like an hour, Panebianco stopped and said, ‘There.’

The door in front of him was definitely closed to casual visitors. It even looked as if it might be locked.

Blume made to push it open, then stopped. ‘How … ?’

‘She is going to be OK. Don’t worry. You can’t talk to her, though. They have administered a general anesthetic, but she’ll wake up soon. Those are the doctor’s words.’

‘How do you know all this?’

‘I got here about twenty minutes after she was admitted.’

‘I mean how do you know she is going to be all right?’

‘The doctors told me.’

‘And you believe them?’

Panebianco nodded firmly. ‘Absolutely. I trust doctors when they are being optimistic. Pessimism is the default mode, you see. If they say things could go wrong and they do, then they were right all along. If they are wrong and everything goes fine, you are so thankful you forgive their miscalculation.’

Panebianco was still talking and Blume tried to tune in, but found a single large thought sat sideways across the front of his brain blocking his ability to take in information. He had to dislodge it first before he could hope to be of any use.

‘Where was she?’

Panebianco said something unconnected with the question, so Blume repeated it. Finally, Panebianco stopped talking and peered at Blume as if only now realizing that he had not been listening. But suddenly the words were devastatingly clear.

‘She was talking to a witness who had decided to retract his testimony in the road rage case,’ said Panebianco. ‘The witness who said he saw Adelgardo Lambertini run over the scumbag.’

Blume gave a tight nod. The back of his neck hurt and his brain felt as if it had shrivelled and hardened inside his skull.

‘Magistrate Martone instructed Caterina to go and talk to him. Apply some pressure. I don’t like the magistrate, to be honest, but you can’t really pin this on her.’

‘A barber, wasn’t it?’ asked Blume.

‘That’s right. The witness was a barber.’

‘Then what happened?’

‘Kids on a motor scooter. They hit her from behind, but it wasn’t entirely their fault. Apparently, she staggered into their path. One of the kids is in hospital, too.

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