Chapter 59 #2
‘Well look at you,’ Henley said as she stood at the door of Ezra’s room.
He’d been barely recognisable the last time she’d seen him with an oxygen tube down his throat.
The swelling on his face had reduced slightly, his head was still heavily bandaged, and his left arm was in a cast, but he looked more like himself.
‘Hi, boss. Look who’s here,’ Ezra said, his voice hoarse, raised his right arm and pointed to Linh who was sitting by his side trying to turn on the TV.
‘Honestly, the price they’re charging for this one to watch another episode of Squid Game,’ Linh said. ‘Can you believe he had the cheek to ask me for a bed bath.’
Henley laughed and wiped away the tears that were flowing mainly with relief, but also part anger that someone she cared about had been treated with such violence.
‘It wasn’t like that,’ said Ezra, placing his head back against the pillow.
Henley sat down next to Ezra and tenderly touched his brow. ‘Are you in a lot of pain?’ she asked.
‘My head is banging, and my chest hurts but I’m pretty much high as a kite,’ said Ezra. He picked up his morphine pump and held it aloft.
‘I’m so glad you’re awake. The doctors said you’re going to make a full recovery.’
‘That’s because he’s got a hard head,’ said Linh, laughing.
‘Linh, honestly,’ said Henley.
‘It’s better to make jokes instead of standing over him bawling my eyes out like Stanford.’
‘Grandad got emotional,’ Ezra said, but his laughter was brief as he groaned in pain.
Henley grimaced in sympathy and took hold of Ezra’s hand.
She gently massaged his palm. She remembered how effective the small action had been, when Pellacia had taken her hand when she’d been in her own hospital bed after being stabbed.
Henley smiled at Linh as Ezra visibly relaxed.
‘Right, I’ve sorted out your TV. I’m off,’ said Linh, kissing him gently on his swollen cheek. ‘I’ll check up on you tomorrow and bring you some decent food. Anj, I’ll call you.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ezra said once Linh had left the room.
‘Ez, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for,’ said Henley. She took a tissue and wiped the tears from his eyes. ‘I don’t ever want to hear you apologise for this. Do you understand?’
Ezra nodded.
‘Can you remember what happened?’ she asked as a police officer arrived at the door and nodded at Henley.
‘Just random bits,’ said Ezra, pointing at the glass of water on the table.
‘This officer is here to talk to you,’ said Henley as she held the straw to Ezra’s mouth and he drank greedily. ‘Don’t put any pressure on yourself to remember. You’re healing. They can come back.’
‘Oh,’ Ezra said as Henley kissed him and left his side. ‘Did they find my laptop?’
Henley turned to the police officer who shook her head.
‘It’s got a tracker,’ said Ezra.
‘That’s good to know,’ said Henley, turning to the police officer. ‘Go easy with him. He’s very important to me.’
Henley felt the headache and nausea, a side effect of the smoke inhalation, finally subside as she stepped out into the cold air and headed to the car park. She made a silent prayer that her next case wouldn’t involve ghosts from her past.
‘What is that?’ Henley asked as she noticed an envelope stuck behind the wipers on her windscreen.
She looked around at the other cars, thinking that it was the usual adverts for a car wash service, but their windscreens were empty.
She removed the envelope and opened it. Inside was a single sheet of paper.
She unfolded it and immediately felt sick.
There were four words written in red ink across a picture of Harry Rhimes’s grave:
LET THE DEAD SLEEP.
Henley placed the photograph back into the envelope and pushed it into her pocket.
She looked up at the hospital where Ezra was recovering from his injuries.
Donovan Hernandez had repeatedly and vehemently denied attacking Ezra and insisted that he had an alibi.
The alibi couldn’t be corroborated and the SCU believed it was only a matter of time before Peckham CID charged Donovan Hernandez with the attempted murder of Ezra.
‘We’ve got it wrong,’ Henley whispered to herself before throwing up onto the grass verge.
Her frantic pulse pushed hard against her temples and the muscles in her chest spasmed.
She took out the bottle of water from her bag and focused on rinsing her mouth as she willed herself to calm down.
A minute later, she took out her phone and called the number she knew by heart.
‘Hey,’ Pellacia answered, his voice heavy and dejected.
Henley got into her car, locked the door and started the engine. ‘Where are you?’ she asked.
‘Home. The borough commander suggested I take the day off. To get my head together.’
‘Are you alone?’
‘Yeah, I … what’s going on?’ Pellacia asked as dejection changed to concern.
‘I’m coming over. Now,’ Henley said. She drove out of Lewisham Hospital car park, turned left in the direction of Hither Green and towards Pellacia.