Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3)(84)

‘I thought you might be him,’ she says, meaning her husband. ‘He’s not supposed to come anywhere near me, but he’s been driving past the house.’

She unhooks the chain and leads us to the sitting room, where children’s toys are stacked in boxes and playpens are resting against the wall, next to a teddy bear the size of a small pony.

Melody spies Evie. ‘And who are you?’

‘I’m nobody.’

‘Oh, you never say that. Ever,’ she replies. ‘You are clearly someone very important because you’re here with Cyrus. And he’s a very clever man.’

‘Evie is cleverer than I am,’ I say.

‘I have no doubt,’ she replies, offering us the sofa. We’ve been whispering because Victoria is asleep upstairs.

‘Has something happened?’ asks Melody.

‘You mentioned that Maya had left nursing after some sort of mix-up. What exactly?’

‘Two babies were given the wrong drug. One died and the other became very sick. It was terribly sad.’

‘Who was responsible?’

‘There were three nurses on duty. None of them would say who made the mistake. They were charged with criminal neglect and one of them with manslaughter.’

‘Was it Lilah Hooper?’ asks Evie.

Melody’s eyes snap open. ‘Yes. That was her. The case was withdrawn. What’s this about?’

‘Could the third nurse have been Daniela Linares?’ I ask.

‘I only remember Lilah’s name because it was in the newspaper. I was going through a box of Maya’s stuff. I found a clipping.’

‘Do you still have it?’ I ask.

‘It’s in the spare bedroom.’

Melody goes upstairs. Evie wanders around the living room, picking up toys and rearranging them. She peers at some of the stick-figure drawings and finger paintings that decorate the walls.

‘These are truly awful.’

‘So were yours at that age.’

‘How do you know? Maybe I was a prodigy.’

She retrieves a stray wooden block from a crack in the sofa. ‘Do you ever want children?’

‘I haven’t thought about it.’

‘Yes, you have.’

She’s doing it again. It’s like living with a mind reader.

‘You’re worried you might not be a good father,’ she says.

‘No.’

‘Or that your kids might turn out like Elias.’

I don’t answer, but she’s closer to the truth.

After a beat she turns to study my face. ‘Could you love someone who couldn’t have children?’

‘Yes.’

‘You say that now, but you might change your mind.’

‘That’s possible.’

Another pause. ‘You know that I can’t have children – not after what they did to me.’

‘How do you feel about that?’

Her shoulders lift and drop. ‘I used not to care. Why bring a child into this fucked-up world?’

‘And now?’

‘What if a baby is the only way I’ll ever be loved?’

‘It won’t be.’

‘Do you love me?’

‘Yes.’

‘But not in that way.’

‘In the best way.’

Evie smiles sadly. We have had conversations like this before and I have tried to explain to her that her feelings towards me are due to transference – the redirecting of emotions from one person to another because they represent what you desperately want, somebody who listens, or cares.

Melody returns with an old shoebox full of bric-a-brac – expired passports, postcards, photographs, lanyards, ticket stubs and receipts. She hands me a yellowing clipping.

A nurse accused of unlawfully killing a three-day-old premature baby and causing brain damage to another, has walked free from court after the case against her collapsed.

Lilah Hooper, 28, cried and hugged her friends and family as the judge instructed the jury that the prosecution had withdrawn from the case. Two other nurses, awaiting trial on charges of criminal negligence, were also acquitted.

The case arose after a mix-up in medications that occurred in the neonatal intensive care ward at the St Jude’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, when one of the nurses mistakenly administered a dose of the wrong drug. One new-born died within hours, while another suffered permanent brain damage.

An internal investigation revealed that a pharmacy technician had stocked a cabinet with adult vials of heparin rather than Hep-Lock, a medication used to keep catheters open and flowing freely.

Judge Winston Davies, QC, instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict against Lilah Hooper, who had denied the manslaughter of Oliver Rennie.

‘In thirty-five years as a barrister and a judge I cannot think of a more tragic case,’ Judge Davies said. ‘My heart goes out to these families but also to the young nurses involved.’

Outside the court, a solicitor read a statement from the Rennie family. He said that his clients would be pursuing civil action against the hospital and the staff responsible.

A spokesperson for the St Jude’s Medical Centre said the hospital trust was still considering whether the nurses would face disciplinary action or be allowed to return to work. The pharmacy technician had already been dismissed.