‘Understatement of the year.’
‘When I came in you looked as though you were expecting someone else.’
‘I thought that you were— I was expecting my wife but … I don’t know.’ Graham touched his forehead as though he was trying to activate a memory.
‘I got a message last night from the senior investigating officer who attended the scene, DC Copeland. She informed me that she’d spoken to your wife—’
‘Tabitha. She—’ Graham stopped abruptly, groaning in pain and clutching his side as he tried to sit up.
‘Hey, hey, relax,’ said Ramouter as he placed his hand gently on Graham’s shoulder. ‘You’re going to rip out your stitches if you move around like that.’
‘You spoke to my wife?’ Graham asked as he reached for the morphine and rapidly pressed the neon green button.
‘No, I didn’t speak to her. DC Copeland did,’ said Ramouter. He watched the morphine descend from the drip and travel down the IV into the vein in Graham’s arm.
‘Is she ok?’ Graham asked anxiously, he sighed heavily, dropped his head back against the pillows and squeezed his eyes shut.
Ramouter gave Graham a few minutes and then picked up the bed remote control and adjusted it slowly until Graham was sitting up.
‘You got quite agitated when I mentioned your wife,’ said Ramouter. ‘I was told by the doctor that you haven’t had any visitors since you were admitted.’
Graham took hold of the morphine pump again. ‘That can’t be right,’ he said. ‘Tabitha must have been to see me when I was sleeping or something.’
‘No, she hasn’t.’ Ramouter glanced around the room. It looked like his room had before his wife had arrived. She brought bags of fruit, bottles of energy drinks and water which cluttered the table. Henley, knowing that the hospital menu had little to be desired, had arrived with a bag of homemade meals. Ramouter bent down and opened the cupboard on the bedside table. It was empty. There was nothing in Graham’s room to show that anyone cared about him.
‘Can you remember anything about the night you were attacked?’ he asked, straightening up.
‘No. Not really, but I think I was upstairs when I heard a noise,’ said Graham.
‘What sort of noise was it?’
‘She screamed.’
Ramouter tried to keep the surprise out of his voice as he asked, ‘Who screamed?’
It was hard not to miss the look on Graham’s swollen and bruised face. It was the look of someone who had been caught out.
‘“Scream”. I don’t … I never said that.’
‘You said that “She screamed”. Who was screaming? Was it your wife?’
‘No. No, I didn’t say that.’
‘Was Tabitha in the house?’
Graham shook his head as if the memory of what he’d gone through was too much for him.
‘Dr Ashcroft, when your wife spoke to DC Copeland, she said that she was in Bath and that she’d been there since Friday.’
Graham withered on the bed. ‘No. You’re confusing me.’
‘I don’t think you’re confused at all. Did you hear Tabitha scream before you were attacked?’
‘No.’
‘Did you have another woman in the house? Was she the one screaming?’
‘I don’t know.’
