Page 54 of Prognosis Christmas Baby

‘He doesn’t need that kind of help.’

Maggie was so focused on her goal that she didn’t really heed the sinister drop in his voice. Her gaze flicked past him again. ‘Okay. We can sit down again and talk it through back on the unit.’

‘Do you have kids, Nurse?’

Maggie was halfway to her goal, her leg brushing the lounge chair. His comment reminded her that it wasn’t just herself that was in peril here. She had a life growing inside her, her own child, and she’d was damned if this man was going to jeopardise that in any way.

‘Look, this is really inappropriate Mr—’

‘I don’t care about that,’ he roared.

Maggie jumped as his voice cracked across the short space that separated them. His eyes were wild and unfocused suddenly and she knew she was in trouble.

His voice dropped again. ‘I’m sorry but I just can’t let you do this.’

Maggie’s heart was practically jumping out of her chest and her eyes bugged as he pulled a knife, the one he’d been peeling the orange with, out of his pocket.

‘Wait,’ Maggie pleaded, holding out her hand to ward him off as he advanced towards her. ‘Here, take it,’ she said holding it out to him. One bag of blood wasn’t worth her life.

‘Oh, I’ll take it all right,’ he snarled, and raised his knife-wielding hand.

Maggie held her crossed arms up to protect herself, protect the baby as he slashed towards her with the knife. She was terrified, utterly terrified as the knife came into contact with the bag and freezing cold blood gushed from the ruptured plastic and ran all down her and pooled on the linoleum floor.

The rich, metallic scent mingled with the aroma of her own fear as the moment seemed to freeze in time. He wrenched the bag out of her hands then, knocking her backwards in the process.

Maggie tried to regain her balance but slipped in the sticky mess at her feet. She twisted, cried out, fell and hit her head on the hard wooden arm of the lounge chair on the way down.

She heard the vague clattering of the knife and saw it land not far from her head in her peripheral vision before everything went black and she lost consciousness.

––––––––

Nash and Gemma hadfinished in Radiology and were discussing Nash’s move to Great Ormond Street Hospital when Linda caught up with them, a bag of chips and a can of soft drink in hand.

‘Been raiding the machine?’ Gemma asked.

Linda nodded. ‘I was over visiting a friend on ward two. And you know me, can’t go by that damn machine without sampling the wares.’

‘Well, all proceeds do go to Radio Giggle,’ Gemma pointed out. ‘So really you’re just making a charitable donation.’

Linda laughed. ‘That’s the way I like to look at it.’

They reached the end of their corridor and turned right. Nash noticed some smudges on the floor. ‘What’s that?’ He frowned.

They all looked down. ‘Looks like a bloody footprint,’ Linda mused.

Nash looked up, noticing they disappeared around the corner they were soon to take. He looked behind him in the opposite direction, tracking them with his eyes as they travelled the length of the corridor.

‘Someone might have cut their foot,’ Linda suggested.

Nash nodded but had a strange itch up his spine as they followed the trail. The wall bore a bloody handprint just before they rounded the corner.

‘Curious and curiouser,’ Gemma murmured.

Nash was the first to see the body on the floor, followed closely by Linda who gasped. His heart almost stopped in his chest as his shocked brain, already reeling from seeing a woman on the floor surrounded in blood, realised it was Maggie.

‘Maggie!’

He ran to her side, kneeling in the blood, uncaring of his clothes or getting blood on himself. His mind raced, trying to sort through all possible scenarios. What the hell had happened? Where had all this blood come from? Nash didn’t think he’d ever seen so much in his life.

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