Gina looked down at her muddy boots. Nina was right. They were too slow, the clues to solve the case were complicated. If everyone hadn’t run and hidden, they’d have got to the bottom of everything sooner, but that’s what some people do. When in trouble, some people face it, others hide until they can make sense of it, prove their innocence or they have other crimes that they’re hiding.
‘You know?’ Nina sucked on the cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke. ‘I told my boss what had happened and my friend, all they can use is the word hero for my son. Hero! My husband was classed as a hero for saving someone from a burning building at his own expense. My son saves someone else and he dies. Hero. What is a hero? Maybe they are but I wish they’d both been cowards. They’d still be alive. I wish my son had looked after himself, first.’ Nina let out a yowling scream and tears dripped onto her cigarette. ‘I would swap all of them, including the good people, for my husband and son. I miss them and he was still my baby boy. He was always my baby even though he was growing up. Do you have children?’
‘A grown-up daughter and a young granddaughter.’
‘Imagine if you lost one of them tomorrow.’
Gina couldn’t. There was no way she could comprehend the pain this woman was going through.
Nina threw her damp cigarette to the floor and stamped on it. ‘I hope he rots in hell for what he did to my son.’ She held a hand up and walked off.
SIXTY-EIGHT
After hurrying to intensive care, Gina was told that Jennifer had been transferred to a recovery ward. On the way she hoped that the rabbit they’d found on the boat wasn’t chewing her chair legs to pieces. Her cat had vanished out of the cat door, clearly upset by their new addition. It was temporary though. She would find a home for the tiny animal.
Box of chocolates in hand, she entered the ward and could see that one bed had the curtains pulled. It had to be Jennifer’s.
Creeping closer, she passed a woman with earphones in and one who was snoring, and she waited and listened.
‘I love you,’ Jacob said.
In a crackly voice, Jennifer replied. ‘I was going to tell you… about the baby.’ She paused and sobbed a little, ‘I didn’t think you would be—’
‘You mean everything to me. When they told me you were pregnant, I was so scared I’d lose you.’ He smirked. ‘I went home that night and I allowed myself to imagine being a dad—’
Gina felt like she was intruding. What she should have done was walk away and come back in a few minutes, but she couldn’t.
Jennifer’s voice was laboured as if she was grasping for her words and elongating them. ‘And I wanted to be a mum.’
They both cried together for a few seconds.
‘I lost our baby.’
‘Shh, it’s all going to be okay.’ He paused. ‘These past few days have made me think about life, about us, about everything. I don’t care what colours you want to paint the house. I’m sorry for going on about something so stupid. I… I…’
‘What?’
‘I know you’re not big into the idea, but will you marry me?’
Gina couldn’t make out what Jennifer was trying to say.
‘Here, your throat’s still dry from that horrible breathing tube. I’ll get some fresh water.’
Gina moved backwards towards the entrance just as the curtain swished open.
She held the chocolates up and Jacob took her aside. ‘Were you here, listening?’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I’ve only just arrived.’
He stared at her for a moment as he stood there with the jug. ‘Jennifer’s going to need a lot of help for a while but she might be home in a few days. Depends on what the doctors and physio say. Go and say hello. You can keep her company while I go and take a leak.’
Gina smiled and waved at Jennifer. She smiled back, too weak to respond. A huge cannula stuck out of her hand and a bag of something was being dripped into her. The monitor beeped away. The young crime scene assistant’s mouth was dry and sore, with redness where the tube had been resting in the corner. Her plum-coloured hair greasy on one side and shaved on the other where the medical staff had treated her. ‘These are for you.’ She popped the chocolates on the bedside cabinet.
‘Thanks.’ Every word was hard for her. Gina appreciated the effort it was taking. ‘What happened?’
‘The person who ran you over killed himself in the early hours. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to bring him properly to justice for you.’
Jennifer placed a shaky hand on Gina’s. ‘Annabel?’
