Page 46 of Death Kiss

My hand shakes as I fold it over Liam’s.

‘Hello, ambulance service. Is the patient breathing?’

‘Yes,’ I say, swallowing down the panic that rises. ‘But he’s unconscious. There’s a lot of blood.’

‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know. I found him like this. Please, I’m halfway down St Martin's Street, across from Mackies Vape Shop. Please hurry.’

‘What number are you calling on?’

I reel off my phone number, squeezing Liam’s fingers. There’s no response.

‘Can you see any injuries? We’ve got someone on the way to you now.’

She listens while I tell her about the head wound and the swollen eye, but that I can’t figure out if there’s anything else.

Within minutes, the alley fills with blue lights and sirens, paramedics gently removing me from his side while they assess him.

Before I know it, someone’s packed Liam and me into the back of the ambulance, with my bag of shopping perched on my lap. The driver had sweetly swept the slightly bashed produce back in.

Seeing Liam strapped to the stretcher as the paramedic checks him is like being in a nightmare. The mask over his swollen face. The bright lights showing me just how much blood he’s soaked in.

When we arrive, Accident and Emergency swallows him up while I’m shown to a row of plastic seats. I text Ellie and Sandra, letting them know what’s happening before sitting there with my plastic bag clutched to my chest.

Ellie arrives first in a flurry of concern, with Freddie trailing behind her.

‘Oh my god, is he okay?’ she says, eyes rimmed red.

‘I don’t know.’ I choke down a sob, wanting to collapse into Ellie’s arms, but still feeling vulnerable around her reporter.

‘He has to be. He’s basically indestructible.’ Ellie notices me glaring over her shoulder at Freddie and sighs. ‘Sorry, I’d had a drink after shopping and couldn’t drive. Freddie offered…’

‘It’s fine,’ I say. A lie.

‘Don’t worry, here strictly on a non-work basis.’ Freddie smiles at me, which doesn’t make me feel any better.

Sandra and Colin spill in shortly after, worried but also caught off guard by an impromptu hospital corridor meet-the-parents. I watch their awkward introductions like they are on a distant TV. Aware, but not involved. The bag crinkles as I squeeze it tighter.

When Sandra sits beside me and pulls me into a hug, the tears fall. Silently. And without further note, there’s no holding them back. Freddie fetches a tissue from his stupid little satchel.

‘He’ll be okay, honey,’ she soothes. ‘He’s a strong boy. Reckless, but strong. I thought he’d grown out of this…’

My brow furrows at that. Grown out of what?

Sandra’s stomach rumbles, and I fish a pack of hobnobs from the bag. They’re slightly battered, but no one seems to mind when I pass them around.

We sit there nibbling like a pack of sad squirrels, waiting for news.

Two days' worth of hard plastic seats, horrible prepacked sandwiches, surprisingly good coffee, and many shed tears, and I feel hollowed out. Like someone has unhitched my skull, reached in and scooped out my insides.

So many voices say, "We’ll see how he is when he wakes up, or it’s hard to tell, but his vitals are good."

They don’t say that they won’t know if he’s okay cognitively until he wakes, but I know that's what they mean. I slip my hand into his and trace a thumb over the intermingling of scars and dark ivy there, wondering if my Liam is even still in there.

It’s hard to sit on the edge of anger and fear. I don’t know what happened to him. I’m scared to go home not only because I want to be here when Liam wakes, but also because whoever dumped him knows we live there. If he went behind my back and fought, there’s a relief in knowing that it’s not related to our murders. But if he fought, he lied to me, and that set fiery rage boiling in my chest. If it’s something to do with the murders, his being dumped at home is a warning. When they discover he’s not dead, they might well come back.

I’m thankful that Sandra picked up Reggie and took him to hers for a few days. Other than a quick stop here and there to grab clothes and shower, I’ve camped out right here next to Liam, knowing my kitty is safe.