“He came out on a stretcher.”
Laura drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, no, no, no,” she whispered. She crammed knuckles into her mouth and chewed on them, forgetful of Michelle’s eyes on her.
“Have some of this,” Michelle said, proffering the brandy glass.
“No.” Laura galvanized herself. “Can’t drink. Got to get to the hospital.”
“You aren’t going there.” Michelle was aghast. “I can’t come. I can’t see Cordwainer. I can’t be in the same building.”
“Stay here, then,” Laura said, pushing Michelle back roughly when she laid a hand on her forearm.
“But Jeremy said—”
“Jeremy’ll be back soon. You’ll be okay here. Put the telly on, watch Cash in the Attic or something. I’m going. Nice meeting you, bye.”
“Laura.” The woman’s cry behind her stopped Laura in her tracks, it was so piteously guttural. “I know your father.”
Laura whirled round, her face hard. “So what?”
Michelle seemed prepared to say anything now, perhaps needing to keep this little piece of human connection, to avoid being alone.
“Cordwainer gave me to him.”
“What? What the hell are you on about? I don’t care about all this shit. I care about Rocky.”
“I was Cordwainer’s property and he gave me away to your father. That’s why I gave the story to the Gazette. I was so angry with him.”
She was crying again, convulsively.
Laura stopped, on the verge of indecision, too embroiled in conflicting emotions to fully feel any of them.
“You mean…you were shagging my dad?”
“Cordwainer used to have parties. I was the entertainment. Your dad was a regular.”
“Jesus, I don’t want to hear this.” But Laura could not move, her fascinated revulsion rooting her to the spot.
“I loved Charles, but he didn’t love me. He gave me away to your father.”
“Like…a present?”
“Yes, like a present. I wasn’t supposed to have feelings. I wanted him to know I did. I have feelings. I have value.”
“You wanted revenge?”
Michelle nodded miserably.
“Well, you’ve got it, haven’t you? And now two men might be dead.”
“I didn’t call that cop, though. That was nothing to do with me.”
Laura’s stomach lurched unpleasantly. The idea that Rocky might be lying in the hospital morgue right now as a direct result of her call to DCS Rhodes was not an appealing one. It reminded her of her immediate mission, and she picked up her handbag.
“Yeah, well, there’s no accounting for my dad’s taste,” she said brutally. “It always was trashy. I’m going now.”
Accident and Emergency was busting at the seams, each cubicle full, with every chair in the waiting area occupied by somebody needing attention. Laura found it easy to slip past the harassed nurses and look at the chart on the wall.
Bay Three had the name Cordwainer crossed out and replaced. Either he was dead or had been removed to Intensive Care or another ward.