Page 93 of Return Ticket

Hartridge nodded, looking pleased about running down a lead on his own.

As James flagged down an officer and organized a lift, he felt a grim sense of anticipation for the interrogation tomorrow.

Whatever they could prove or disprove about Blythe’s past killings, they had him bang to rights over this attempt at murder. No matter what, he wasn’t going to be walking free any time soon.

* * *

“There’s a rip in your pants.”

Gabriella lifted her head with a start and blinked bleary eyes at the matron in front of her.

She looked down, studied the rip, and then lifted the hem of her right pant leg up. Her shin was covered in blood, long since dried.

“Ran into a statue,” she said.

“Come on, then. Let’s fix you up.” The matron began walking away, and Gabriella rose stiffly to her feet from the uncomfortable chair in the corridor and hobbled after her.

“You’re waiting for word on the woman who was attacked?” the matron asked as she showed her into an examination room.

“Yes. I was running away from her attacker when I tripped over the statue.” Gabriella sank down with relief into another chair, and the matron got busy cleaning the wound.

Gabriella winced.

“I’d also like to hear how another friend is doing,” she said, when the job was done and she had a neat bandage around the scrape. It wasn’t deep, but there was a massive bruise. “I’m not sure if he was admitted to this hospital, but it’s likely.”

“What happened to him?” Matron asked.

“He was hit by a car crossing the road in the fog,” Gabriella said. “I think his legs were broken. His name is Mr. Theodore Roe.”

“Ah.” Matron gave a nod as she went to wash her hands. “Yes, he’s here. Sleeping now, I expect. Got plaster on both legs and he’ll be in a wheelchair for a good month, but he’ll live.”

“Thank you.” She would call Ruby Everett in the morning and let her know what had happened to her tenant.

“Do you have a name for the woman who was attacked?” Gabriella asked.

James had been excited to see her handbag was with her, under her in the wheelbarrow, and she remembered there had been no bag near either of the two victims she had seen.

He must take them after he had hidden their bodies, she thought. But he hadn’t been able to, this time.

“Her name’s Katie Brompton.” Matron wiped her hands on the towel at the sink, and then turned back to Gabriella. “The police will need to find her next of kin.”

Gabriella nodded. “Can I visit her when her surgery is over?”

“Of course, love.” Matron escorted her out. “But now I have to insist that you get home to bed. You’re already dressed for it, after all.”

Gabriella had totally forgotten until that moment that she was wearing her pajamas. She looked down at the dirt-smeared red and white stripes, then looked back up at the twinkling eyes of the senior nurse.

She trudged out of the main hospital entrance, into the night. The fog had lifted a little, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t have a way to get home.

She had not thought about that at all.

“Gabriella?” The voice behind her was astonished.

She turned, and saw Ruby Everett.

“The hospital called you?” she asked, although, they must have. There was no other explanation.

“Yes. How did you know about it?” Ruby stopped beside her, and then seemed to realize she was wearing pajamas. Her eyebrows went up.