Blackout by Simon Scarrow

Author:Simon Scarrow
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The doctor was still examining the woman when Schenke and Liebwitz entered the cell. The room was long and narrow, with a wooden bed frame, a thin mattress and a blanket at the far end. Above, there was a small barred window at street level. Snow was piled up to half the height of the dirty glass panes, and the main source of illumination was the bulb behind a wire grille on the ceiling. By its glow, Schenke could see the doctor leaning over the woman as she lay on the bed. The air in the room felt cold and damp, and the walls glistened with condensation. The only warmth came from a single heating pipe running through the cell above head height.

The doctor looked up, his trembling hand holding a bloodstained swab of cotton.

‘How is she?’ Schenke demanded.

‘See for yourself.’

Schenke led his companion to the side of the bed. The woman lay on her back on a stretcher, still dressed in her coat, staring up at the three men nervously. Her face was bruised and swollen and there were stitches in the puckered skin of a cut on her cheek and another on her forehead. The doctor put the swab down.

‘As you can see, she was badly beaten. There are no bones broken or any signs of internal injuries, as far as I can see from a superficial examination. From the way she’s been wincing I’d say there’s some bruising on her ribs on the left side. Whoever did this could easily have inflicted fatal injuries if he’d carried on with the beating.’

‘Has she said anything?’ asked Liebwitz. ‘Has she identified her attacker?’

‘She’s not said a word to me. I have asked her name, but she didn’t reply.’

‘What about her identity card? Her ration book?’

‘I don’t know about those. There was a small bag on the stretcher when she was brought in, but that was taken away by a policeman. You might try looking into it.’

‘Thanks for the tip,’ Schenke responded drily. He saw that the woman was shivering. ‘We need to get her out of this room. Why on earth are you treating her in here anyway?’

‘That’s what I was ordered to do. You think we’d be in this ice box if I had anything to do with it?’

‘Then let’s move her.’

‘On whose authority?’

‘Mine. Is there anything more you need to do for her?’

‘She’s cold and probably still in shock. Keep her warm, get a hot drink inside her, and when you release her, she should go to a pharmacy and get something for the pain. And I’d say she’s not to return to work for a week at least.’

Schenke nodded. ‘All right, we’ll see to it. You can go now. Thanks.’

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the curt dismissal, then shrugged and packed up his large leather bag and left the room. Liebwitz pointed to the stretcher handles.

‘Should we carry her up?’

‘She can walk. If she’s fit enough to attempt an escape, she’s fit enough to make her way up to the section office.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.