The Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper

Author:Helen Cooper [Cooper, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399701037
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2023-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The ICU was quiet, but with a soft hum of continuous activity. Phones being answered, nurses padding from bed to bed, patients shifting under thin sheets while others lay disturbingly still. Lucy half expected to be turned away, or questioned further about her relationship with Ruth, but the nurse at the desk nodded distractedly and pointed her towards the right bay. On the way there, Lucy noticed a large whiteboard of bed numbers and patient details. She sought out Ruth’s name and saw the words trauma and blood loss, alongside some other medical terms she couldn’t understand.

Walking on, she passed an older woman reading a newspaper at a bedside while crying silently. Lucy wanted to smile at her, show some kindness, but instead she put her head down and hurried past, feeling like an intruder. You shouldn’t be here. You’ve no right. You should be at work. But she kept moving, training her eyes straight ahead, trying to walk as soundlessly as possible.

She stalled as she rounded a corner and saw Ruth’s husband. Sitting next to Ruth’s bed, just as she’d imagined, but wearing a black jumper rather than a bloodstained shirt. He was holding Ruth’s hand as she slept, seemingly unaware of anything or anybody else. Lucy almost lost her nerve and backed away. Her eyes moved to Ruth: how tiny she looked on the bed, with a large dressing beneath her hairline, a bruise across her left cheek, a drip snaking out of her arm. It was the sight of her that made Lucy stay. She had to find out who did this to her, and why.

‘Hello,’ she ventured, hovering at a distance.

Ruth’s husband looked up, looked blank. Lucy’s cheeks warmed. She really didn’t belong here. Then recognition glimmered in his eyes and he looked almost relieved to see a semi-familiar face, even if they’d only met a couple of times before. Perhaps he’d been worried she was a police officer, come back with more probing questions or bad news. Perhaps the break from sitting alone with an unconscious Ruth was unexpectedly welcome.

‘I work with Ruth,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s Martin, isn’t it? I’m so sorry. I just came to see if she’s okay.’

‘Well . . .’ He sounded angry, and yet defeated, as if the anger had nowhere to go. ‘She’s not, I’m afraid.’

‘No. Of course she isn’t. I really am sorry. Is there anything I can do? Fetch you a cup of tea? Sit with her while you take a break?’

He gazed at her, seeming confused again. His brown hair was sticking up at the back like he’d had an electric shock.

‘Sorry,’ Lucy said. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have turned up like this. It’s just, I heard about Ruth at work this morning, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her, so when I passed by here on my way home for lunch . . .’

‘It’s fine.’ He waved a hand, shook his head. ‘She’d appreciate you visiting, I’m sure. If she knew.’ He looked back at Ruth, and Lucy wondered if she did have any awareness.

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