Page 88 of Two for Joy

The van picked up speed, they must’ve broken through the crowd, and were on their way to Norman’s Hospital. He knew the layout of the hospital, had played the homeless-man long enough to get a feel for where the exits were.

He’d taken a big risk after the DI had his heart attack, but he needed to see for himself he hadn’t accidentally caused someone’s death.

That would’ve complicated his countdown, put a blip in his target number.

It wasn’t part of his plan.

Getting inside hadn’t been a problem, he’d walked through the front entrance, but after someone spotted him lurking, he had to look for a different exit. The man followed him, yelling at him, drawing attention to him. He couldn’t escape through the outpatient doors, he had to find somewhere quieter, where no one would, or could, draw attention to him.

He found one.

Not the huge elevator to the outpatients’ underground parking lot, but a smaller one near the cancer ward. Further away, through winding corridors, and up and down stairs, but it was there. A quieter, private carpark attached to the ward, overlooking fields, Romeo imagined the patients had a good view of the sunrise each morning.

The van turned suddenly, and Romeo’s cheek collided with the wall. He winced as his teeth dug into his cheek, not only swollen on the outside, but inside, too. The lump pressed against his teeth making it hard to move his mouth.

It helped with the slurring at least.

****

The door flew open, Paul reached inside and gripped onto Romeo’s bicep before tugging him out. He stumbled and had to be steadied by Fred waiting at the bottom of the steps. Romeo recognized the ER department, but didn’t react to it, he looked over to Zander coming towards him, clipboard in hand.

“How you feeling?”

“The same.”

He saw flashing lights out of the corner of his eye, not ambulances, but police cars. They’d gone all out to escort him. He didn’t react, but kept his head hanging low, and let Zander guide him into the hospital. When people looked at him, they saw the orange jumpsuit, then the mass of his swollen face. It was obvious he was a convict by the cuffs and clothing, but they had no ideawhichconvict they were all gawping at.

“They’ll take your blood pressure, and do some other tests, too.”

“The scan?”

“I think they’ve got it all set up for you.”

Zander distanced himself and joined a group of men and women all in their scrubs. He handed over his clipboard, had a quick chat, then turned to Romeo and gestured him forward. His entourage followed, walking around him like they were a net ready to catch him.

They seemed to relax the more he limped along looking sorry for himself.

“I’mradiologist Thomas Reed.”

He held out his hand to Romeo, then withdrew it fast when he realized his hands were cuffed at his back. He didn’t seem fazed by Romeo being a criminal, more irritated.

“I’ve had to reschedule others for this.”

Zander nodded. “I know, we’ll be quick.”

“I hope so. Follow me.”

Romeo walked after him, scanning the corridor. He knew two officers had stayed outside the ER department, another two waited in the reception, leaving six officers accompanying him to the scanner.

“You’ll have to remove his cuffs.” Thomas said.

Paul snorted. “No chance of that.”

“Nothing metal can go inside the scanner.”

“You’ll have to make an exception.”

“The cuffs will break it.”

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