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chapter thirty-six

James watched Blythe being loaded into a police car.

The lights of the ambulance treating the woman in the wheelbarrow were muted by the fog, and he realized this was his second ambulance of the evening.

He hoped Teddy Roe was all right. The old man deserved some kind of commendation for his help.

“Do they think she’s going to survive?” Hartridge appeared beside him as the ambulance doors closed. The sirens started up as they sped away.

“Touch and go,” James said. That she was alive at all was amazing.

“And Mr Somerville?” Hartridge glanced back at the mansion.

“He wouldn’t go in an ambulance. One of the uniforms called his local GP to come round to see to him, and—” He stopped as a man in a coat and hat, carrying a doctor’s black leather bag, came down the street. “Dr. Jenkins.” He gave the doctor a wave.

“Archer, is it?” Jenkins came to a brief stop, glancing at the chaos around him, and then continued forward.

“Yes, I was just telling my constable that Mr Somerville’s GP had been called, and then saw you coming down the street. We offered him an ambulance, but he absolutely refused to go to the hospital.”

“Damn fool.” Jenkins glanced at the door and shook his head. “He was attacked, the policeman on the phone said.”

“There was an assault on him in his home, yes.” James began walking toward the door, and Jenkins and Hartridge fell into step with him. “He was shoved over, fell and hit his head.”

James didn’t say it, but Somerville was lucky Blythe had been in a hurry and hadn’t had the time to use the shovel he’d been carrying, or the hammer they’d found in his large trench coat pocket.

They entered the house, and James nodded in approval at the PC holding a warm, damp towel to Somerville’s head.

“Evening, Ned, I see you’ve got a spot of trouble.” Dr. Jenkins moved toward Somerville with confidence, and the PC stepped back. James tilted his head toward the door, giving him permission to escape.

“Now that your doctor is here, I need to go interview my suspect,” James said. “Detective Constable Hartridge will be round tomorrow for a statement, if that’s possible?” James looked at Jenkins, rather than Somerville.

“We’ll see. If you could call me first, Detective Constable?” Jenkins fished a card out of his pocket and handed it over to Hartridge. “I’ll let you know.”

Hartridge took the card with a nod.

“Where’s that girl?” Somerville suddenly asked. “The one who told me to run inside and call the police?”

“Gabriella?” Jenkins asked, his head coming up in surprise. “She was caught up in this, too?”

“Yes.” James left it at that. “She went in the ambulance with the victim.”

“What victim?” Jenkins sat back, frowning.

“The chap that came in and had a go at me, he had bludgeoned some poor woman half to death. Was planning on burying her in my old shed.” Somerville huffed out a breath. “Bloody nerve.”

Hartridge cleared his throat suspiciously.

“Well, sounds like there was a lot going on here tonight.” Jenkins wisely didn’t ask any more questions, and James and Hartridge left him to his patient.

“How did the doc know Gabriella?” Hartridge asked as they walked out.

“She knocked on his door by chance, asking for help when Teddy Roe was hit by a car. He lives around the corner.” James ran a hand through his hair. He made a mental note to call the doctor tomorrow and warn him about Robbie, but now was not the time.

It had been a very long night, but he couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

He clapped Hartridge on the shoulder. “You stay here with forensics. I’ll get a lift back to the Yard and make sure Blythe is tucked up in a cell for the rest of the night.” James wanted to make sure all the formalities were observed. “Then tomorrow, I want you to take someone with you and head out to the address we have for Blythe in Kent. He’s going by Linaker there, so find out as much as you can, and call me with any updates that might be useful before I question him.”

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.

“James and I were walking home when we found Teddy Roe on the road. I called an ambulance, but they wouldn’t let me go with him.”

“So how come you’re here?” Ruby asked. “Are you injured?” Her gaze was on the rips in Gabriella’s pants.

“It’s a long story.” She almost didn’t have the energy to explain it all, but she managed to outline the main points.

“So this Tanner could still be waiting for you?” Ruby asked.

Gabriella stared at her. That had not even crossed her mind.

“Come.” Ruby waved a hand, and a taxi pulled up beside them. “I’m going inside with you to check he isn’t still there,” she said.

She peppered Gabriella with questions on the short journey home, and when they pulled up, the taxi driver, who’d introduced himself as Jimmy, and who’d been listening to their conversation with avid attention, switched off the engine. “I’m coming along, ladies. Can’t have too much muscle.”

They got out, and Gabriella stopped. Pointed.

“That’s Tanner’s car.”

The black Mercedes was parked a little way down the road.

“All right. Time to get serious.” Jimmy leaned back into his cab and pulled out a tire iron. “Always have one handy. Just in case.” He sent Ruby a wink, and she smiled back.

“I like a man who comes prepared,” she told him.

They climbed the stairs quietly, Gabriella in the middle, with Jimmy in front and Ruby bringing up the rear.

When they reached the landing, she saw her dressing gown was hanging from her door knob, and her toiletries had been put back in their bag and were on the ground in front of her door.

She put her hand in the dressing gown pocket, and found her key. Then she glanced at Jimmy, waited for a nod, and then tried the door.

It was locked.

She sagged with relief. “He can’t be in there. It can’t be locked from the inside without a key.”

She opened it up and pushed the door open, but the interior of her flat was exactly as she’d left it. “He must have not come back after he lost me in the fog,” she said, feeling a little lightheaded with relief. “Jerome must have put my things by my door.”

“And he didn’t come back for his car, either?” Ruby wondered.

“Maybe he was afraid to. He would assume I’d run straight to the police.” Gabriella leaned back against the wall.

“Well, you look dead on your feet, so I’ll get Jimmy to drive me home. Come for dinner tomorrow night, and catch me up on everything.” Ruby handed her her toiletries, and then she and Jimmy withdrew.

Gabriella closed the door, locked it, and walked to her bed.

She’d never felt so happy to be home in her life.