Blink(75)

‘You said the two of you were friendly. Didn’t she tell you anything about herself?’

Toni shakes her head. ‘She was always really guarded when it came to speaking about the past or about herself generally. She was more interested in me and Evie, for obvious reasons, we can see now.’

‘I suppose they have to go over it all again in case anything was missed the first time,’ says Nancy. ‘But surely, if Jo Deacon took Evie, there should be signs of that in her home.’

‘They’ve sent hairs and other bits off for analysis,’ Toni says. ‘What I want to know is, where is Evie now? What has Jo done with her if she isn’t at her house?’

Nancy shivers.

She knows then what her next question to Jo Deacon must be.



* * *



The next morning, Cheryl Tong, the ward manager, stops Nancy at the desk.

‘You’re back on Ward C,’ Cheryl says, handing her some wrongly directed mail for the other ward. ‘You can go there right away.’

Nancy doesn’t move. ‘But why?’

Cheryl looks up sharply. ‘Why what?’

‘I mean, I’ve only just come onto Ward B. Why am I being moved already?’

Unconsciously, Nancy feels her eyes drift towards Jo Deacon’s private room and she sees her manager register this.

‘There’s no specific reason, Nancy, just staffing logistics.’ Cheryl hesitates. ‘Although I have noticed you’re spending a lot of time in the stroke patient’s room.’

‘I do what I need to do in there,’ Nancy replies tersely. ‘Sometimes it takes a little longer because the patient is unresponsive.’

‘Well, they’re moving her later today, anyway,’ Cheryl says in an offhand manner. ‘Can’t say I’m sorry, if it’s true what she did to that Cotter girl.’

‘Evie,’ Nancy says. ‘Her name is Evie. Where are they moving her to?’

‘No idea.’ Cheryl busies herself with a pile of paperwork. ‘You’d have to ask Dr Chance.’

‘I just remembered I left my fob watch in there yesterday,’ Nancy says, feeling grateful she placed it in her handbag this morning instead of pinning it to her uniform. ‘I’ll just get it now and then I’ll get off to Ward C.’

Cheryl gives her a vague nod and moves to the other side of the admin station to take a telephone call.

Nancy enters the room. It’s quiet, save for the hiss of the respirator and the particularly loud tick of the wall clock. She pads over to the bed and leans forward so Jo can see her.

‘They’re moving me today, Jo. They’re short-staffed on another ward,’ Nancy says, leaning in closer. ‘I wanted to tell you that I saw Toni Cotter last night.’ Nancy pauses for a moment to observe her but there is no reaction at the mention of Toni’s name. ‘And I have one last question for you before I go.’

Nancy takes a breath.

‘Jo, do this for Toni. Was there someone else involved in the abduction of Evie? Yes? No?’

No reaction.

‘Jo, please. This is so important. Does someone else know what happened to Evie? Yes? No?’

No blink.

Nancy asks the last question again and adds in ‘I don’t know’ as an option, but still nothing.

Nancy looks over at the door. She doesn’t have an excuse if Cheryl Tong comes into the room right now. She’ll want to know what Nancy is saying to Jo and why she’s acting strangely with a patient.

‘Jo, please. For Toni’s sake, and for little Evie, tell me. Is there someone else involved, who knows what happened to Evie, knows where she is? Yes . . .’

And Jo Deacon blinks.

‘Does Toni know this person, like she knew you?’

Jo blinks.

The answer is, categorically, undeniably, yes.





67





Present Day





The Nurse





Nancy leaves Jo Deacon’s room and reports directly to her ward manager, Cheryl, who has just finished her call.

‘The patient blinked,’ Nancy says. ‘Jo Deacon blinked.’

Cheryl’s eyes widen. ‘Are you sure? There’s been no sign of life at all.’

‘I’m certain,’ Nancy says. ‘She just blinked.’ She can’t reveal her experimental communications with Jo because it would be very dimly looked upon. A nurse taking it upon herself to use unconventional techniques on a patient when she should be busy with other duties? Trying to save a grieving mother’s sanity by getting information from the patient who broke her world in two?

That wouldn’t do at all.

Fortunately, on this occasion, Nancy doesn’t give a toss about their ethics.



* * *



This time, when Nancy is shown into the sitting room by Anita, she is greeted by a very different Toni Cotter. She stands up as soon as Nancy appears and walks across the room to envelop her into a hug.

‘Thank you,’ she whispers. ‘Thank you for helping me.’

‘But you don’t know what I’m here to tell you, yet,’ Nancy says, struggling with how to break the information she’d managed to extract from a now-blinking Joanne Deacon. ‘I don’t even know if she’s telling the truth.’