Safe Haven by Shankari Chandran

Author:Shankari Chandran [Chandran, Shankari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hardie Grant Pub Pty Ltd
Published: 2024-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Lucky’s dreams were filled with burning women. She woke up hours before dawn the next day in her hospital room, exhausted, and found her phone by her bed. Dr Manners had charged it and returned it to her. She dialled the number for the OSI and inputted the security codes that would connect her to September.

‘Can you talk?’ September asked neutrally. ‘I know you’ve been too busy to call the office. You missed Vashti’s going-away party, but I put twenty dollars in for you.’ Their line was clean, but September was subtly asking if Lucky had company.

‘I always liked Vashti,’ Lucky replied.

She heard September exhale. Lucky’s response had indicated that she was not in imminent danger. According to Dr Manners, patient rooms were not surveilled, but without proper tech to sweep the place, she couldn’t be sure, so she remained guarded.

‘Dr Manners said he sent you my patient file—a CT scan and bloods?’

‘Yes. Your bloods look good,’ September said, anticipating her suspicions. ‘I heard you’ve taken to a life of petty crime. Breaking and entering at your age. What did I tell you, Lucky? Crime doesn’t pay, but it does hurt.’

‘It does indeed.’ Her fingers drifted to the top of her hand. She could feel the residue of the adhesive tape that had held the cannula in place. The usual place where a doctor might give her fluids to remain hydrated. Or insert a drug directly, for fast action. The sour taste in her mouth had receded, but it had clearly come from a sedative. Blood test results could be faked.

‘You okay? Anything serious?’ September asked. She knew Lucky could handle herself, so if she had been hurt, her assailant had been better trained, better armed, or had caught her completely by surprise.

‘I didn’t see the guy—male, ninety kilos, six two, and wearing a mask naturally, so no defining features in the dark. Basically, it could have been anyone on the island. But I think I know who it was,’ she said, remembering her encounters with Officer Horne.

‘You’ve got to watch your back, Lucky. I have very limited visibility from here and I don’t like it.’

‘Understood.’

‘Have you discovered anything interesting about Officer Milton? Is this an open-and-shut case of suicide? Did his past in Sri Lanka finally catch up with him, sending him into a guilt-ridden swan dive off a cliff?’ September asked.

‘Thanks for that imagery, September. You have no respect for the dead.’ As she spoke, Lucky walked around the room, looking for obvious devices. There were no cameras in the room, and when she had walked through the med unit with the others earlier, she hadn’t seen any in the corridors. Ostensibly, Port Camden Detention Centre exercised an unexpected level of respect for patient confidentiality. A visual search didn’t exclude more high-tech surveillance, though.

‘I’m not going to lose any sleep over Thomas Milton, Lucky, regardless of how he died. The man had nine lives and he was bound to run out eventually. But maybe he did have a change of heart; perhaps he was overwhelmed with guilt for a questionable past.

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