Chapter 65
Sixty-Five
Gina
Jacob passed her a coffee as they stood outside the operating rooms. She sipped the hot liquid, drinking even though it was slightly burning her throat.
Seeing the look on the kids’ faces when she told them that their aunt had died had been etched into her mind.
They had no one else and despite what Claudia Forster had done in her past, she’d obviously cared for them and looked after them well.
Not all was black and white in life. Bad people weren’t all bad and good people weren’t all good.
She thought about her own feelings and how she’d have liked to have killed Edwin and how she did actually end Terry’s life.
To the world, she fought crime, she was good.
To herself, she knew where her bad lay and to her daughter, she was mostly bad but with some chink of good.
Jacob paced and kept staring out of the window at the frosty hospital courtyard, only lit up from the corridor light.
‘I tried Mrs O again but she still isn’t answering,’ he said.
‘I’ll try again in a minute.’ She felt weak at the thought. Her gaze fixed on the doors that led to the ward where Harry O’Connor was being operated on, fighting for his life. No one had come out and no one had gone in for ages.
A woman dressed in a blue tunic and trousers removing a face mask came through. Gina ran over to her. ‘Is DC O’Connor okay? Are you bringing him out to a recovery ward or ICU soon?’
The woman frowned. ‘Sorry, I think another team have been operating on him.’
‘Can you find out if there’s any news?’
She raised her brows and walked back towards the doors. ‘Of course,’ she said, glancing back smiling sympathetically as she used her pass to buzz back in.
The waiting continued. Gina checked her personal phone. A message had been sat there for fifteen minutes. It was from Brodie.
I’m at yours. I’ll see you in a bit. Thinking of you and let me know if there’s anything I can do. Anything at all. Xxx
She put her phone away. Her work phone started ringing. She snatched it from her pocket. It was an international number. ‘I think it’s O’Connor’s wife.’ She hesitated, knowing that once she answered, she’d have to give Mrs O the news. A lump formed in her throat. ‘Hello.’
‘Harry? Sorry, I’m half asleep. Who’s this?’
‘It’s DI Harte. Gina.’
‘Gina, is everything okay?’ She paused.
Gina cleared her throat and walked away, leaving Jacob to wait outside the ward doors. She leaned against the cold window and stared out at the courtyard again.
‘Gina?’
‘Sorry. There’s been an incident tonight.’
‘What kind of incident?’ Gina heard Mrs O’s voice break up.
‘Harry was stabbed while chasing a suspect. He’s being operated on as we speak.’
‘Is he going to be okay? He’s hurt but he’ll be okay, right? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?’
Gina glanced over to Jacob who was walking towards the doors to speak to the woman again.
She wanted to say yes, Harry was going to be okay, that he was looking forward to seeing her but she could see by the look on Jacob’s face that he wasn’t going to be okay.
Jacob placed a hand over his mouth as if stifling his emotions.
He caught Gina’s eye and slowly shook his head.
She hiccupped a sob, knowing exactly what Jacob was communicating to her.
He mouthed two words. ‘He’s gone.’