The Dead Place

Her sister turned for a second before she disappeared. ‘Quite honestly, Di, resigning from that bloody job of yours would be the best thing you could do. And then maybe I’d get back the sister I remember.’

Diane remained staring at the door as it slammed behind Angie. She didn’t know what else to think, except that she’d never got a chance to ask who the man was she’d seen on the corner of the street.

Ben Cooper felt as though he’d been walking through hospital corridors for half an hour. He was sure he’d turned left at a nurses’ station a hundred yards back, yet here was another one that looked exactly the same. Had hospitals always been so anonymous, or was it just a result of the latest improvements at Edendale General?

And then, in the corridor ahead, he saw a familiar figure wearing worn denim jeans and a thick sweater with holes at the elbows. Cooper smiled with relief. His brother Matt looked totally out of place in a hospital. For a start, Matt was built on a different scale to the nurses who passed him. His hands and shoulders looked awkward and too big, as if he might break anything fragile he came near. He wasn’t a man you’d want to let loose among hypodermic needles and intravenous drips.

He also looked far too healthy to be inside a hospital, even as a visitor. Constant exposure to the sun and weather had given a deep, earthy colouring to his skin that contrasted with the clinical white, the pale pastels of the newly painted walls.

Matt looked up and began to move towards him. He put his arm round his brother’s shoulder, a rare gesture of affection that made Ben’s heart lurch with apprehension.

‘I’ve spoken to the doctor,’ said Matt. ‘Not the top man, just some houseman or whatever they call them. Come down to the waiting room. We can get a cup of tea.’

‘I want to see Mum.’

‘She’s asleep, Ben. They say she needs to rest. Actually, I think they gave her something to put her out.’

‘Matt –’

‘Come on, it’s this way. I think the WI still do a canteen for visitors, so the tea should be all right.’

Ben felt he was being swept along by his brother, dragged in his wake. Almost the way it had been with their father for so many years.

‘Matt, never mind the tea. I need to know how Mum is now. What happened?’

Instead of answering, Matt began to move along the corridor again. He was a couple of inches taller than his brother, and much heavier. Ben knew it was pointless trying to dig in his heels, and tried to keep up with his brother’s stride instead. He felt a warm flush of resentment starting, a rush of anger that he knew was born of fear.

‘Tea,’ said Matt. ‘And then I’ll tell you everything I know.’

* * *

Matt Cooper walked carefully back across the hospital cafeteria balancing two cups of coffee. He looked terrified of spilling liquid on the polished vinyl tiles, in case someone slipped and broke a leg. An accident in a hospital would seem worse than one that happened anywhere else, somehow.

Ben wrapped his hands around the cup, needing only the warmth and the comfort of watching the movement of steam – anything to settle his impatience.

‘Kate says she saw you earlier today,’ said Matt. ‘Your car was parked on Scratter.’

‘Where?’

‘Scratter. The road between Wardlow and Monsal Head. That’s what they call it.’

Ben frowned. ‘Come on, Matt, get on with it.’

His brother sighed as he eased himself into a chair. ‘It seems Mum had a bit of a fall at the nursing home.’

‘What do you mean “it seems”?’

‘Well, all right – she had a fall. But the staff at Old School aren’t sure how it happened. And you know how confused Mum gets. I managed to speak to her before they sedated her, and she hadn’t a clue where she was.’

‘How badly is she injured?’

‘She’s broken her hip.’

‘Shit.’

‘I know. And they think she might have banged her head when she fell, too. She was very dazed, and couldn’t really remember anything.’

‘Somebody from the nursing home ought to be here,’ said Ben. ‘Why aren’t they here? It’s their responsibility.’

‘Ben, calm down. The senior nurse came to the hospital with her and stayed for two hours until I sent her back. The manager’s been on the phone twice to see how Mum is. They’re all concerned about her.’

‘So they should be. They’ve got some questions to answer.’

Matt took a drink of his coffee, but Ben didn’t even lift his cup. He found that his hand was shaking with anger, and he knew he would only spill it.

Someone had left a copy of the evening paper on the table, folded to the top half of the front page. Ben could see only the first inch of a photograph above the fold, but he recognized it straight away. He’d been looking at it for a large part of the day. At least Media Relations had done their job properly.

‘When will Mum be awake?’ he said.

‘They want to keep her sedated until they can do the X-rays and get her into theatre. Tomorrow we can talk to her, perhaps. But we can go and sit with her for a few minutes, if we ask the sister.’

Ben stared at his cooling coffee. It looked particularly unappealing now that the steam had vanished.

‘Let’s do that, then.’

‘It’s just a fall, Ben. A broken hip sounds bad at first, but she’s not all that old.’

‘Don’t you know what head injuries are like? Even a minor knock –’ Ben stopped, took a deep breath. ‘OK, I’m sorry. You think I’m overreacting.’

‘Yes, you are.’

‘Sorry, Matt,’ he said again. ‘Work, you know …’

‘Getting you down again?’

Ben didn’t like the ‘again’ part. As they walked back down the corridor towards the ward, he felt another surge of anger. He put his hand on Matt’s arm.

‘What’s the name of the manager at Old School?’

‘Robinson. Why?’

‘When I leave here, I’m going to go and see him.’

‘Ben, you wouldn’t do any good.’

‘I need to know exactly how this happened, and what they’re going to do about it.’

Matt took hold of his arm, gripping a little too tightly. His face was flushed a deeper red than usual, and he was breathing too heavily.