Page 57 of No Safe Place

Friday | Evening

Field

In the end, the post-mortems took six hours.

Young told Field to wait for her to shower, and they could get a drink – but she was too desperate to get out of the hospital.

Outside it was still hot and airless.

David’s PM was first. No real surprises there. No evidence that he’d been sexually active on the day he died. Estimated blade length confirmed as ten inches. The smell hadn’t been too bad, because the lab was state-of-the-art, with an extractor fan system that worked minor miracles.

But then Sam.

Field took an unsteady step out the way of the main hospital doors, towards the taxi queue.

Sam looked so young, and vulnerable, under the bright lights. There were no signs of sexual assault, but she’d had sex in the past forty-eight hours. Young had fast-tracked the samples, with David’s DNA for comparison.

It had occurred to Field that the attacker intended to terrify Sam. Ensure she died in a state of panic.

For God’s sake.

She couldn’t breathe properly.

Undoing the top buttons of her shirt didn’t help.

Sam and Toby were the same age. They’d been ill as teenagers, and had both come through it. Both happy, both doing well.

The thought of a police officer watching on as her son was picked over by doctors was unbearable. She couldn’t look Young in the eye after Sam’s PM, let alone meet her for a drink.

A thin man in a hospital gown was eyeing her thoughtfully, taking slow drags on a cigarette, and then considerately blowing the smoke away from her.

Field took her phone from her pocket and went into her call log, scrolling down to Toby’s name.

If he was on shift it would go straight to voicemail – his phone would be in his locker.

It started ringing. Field leaned against a wall.

He answered on the fourth ring. ‘Mum? Everything okay?’

His voice. As familiar as anything, but still strange – deep and grown-up when she expected to hear a little boy.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Everything’s okay. I just – I missed you.’

He gave a tinkly laugh. ‘Who are you and what have you done with my stone-hearted mother?’

He’s okay. Toby is okay.

She smiled at a passing paramedic, someone she vaguely recognised.

Toby wasn’t going to get ill again. Being a paramedic was stressful, and the final exams would be hard – but wasn’t her job stressful? He had support – a great boyfriend, a nice flat. And even if he did get ill – he had never been ill like Callum and Sam, never been in hospital.

‘Mum?’

She needed to get a grip. Pull herself together.

‘I love you, Tobes.’ Field pushed her hair away from her face, the phone hot against her cheek.

‘Christ, this case is really getting to you, isn’t it?’ he said – then, after a tiny pause. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

She pressed a hand to her chest. ‘I have to go.’