Page 6 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘Karen. Karen Bradshaw and my husband’s name is Dave.’

There was no doubting it now. The money clip Danni had seen had been a gift from Karen, and their surname matched the one found on the debit card. There couldn’t be that many coincidences.

‘Shall we go somewhere else where we can talk?’ Danni kept her tone as soft as she could, but there was no fooling Karen. She knew something was wrong and wild horses probably couldn’t have moved her from where she was standing.

‘Just tell me now.’

‘I really think it’s better if we—’

‘Tell me, for Christ’s sake, just tell me!’

‘I’m so sorry.’ It was as far as Danni got before the woman started to wail and every pair of eyes in the unit seemed to be on them.

‘No, no, no, no, no, no, noooooooooooooo!’ As Danni reached out to try and comfort Karen, the other woman’s legs seemed to give way and she collapsed into her arms. Barely able to hold her up, Danni called out for help.

‘I need a wheelchair.’

Lucas got to her first, helping to lift Karen as she continued to wail. Danni didn’t even try to give her more information. She just wanted to get Karen out of view of everyone witnessing her agony. It felt horribly intrusive that her raw grief was on display to a group of strangers.

‘All the bays are full, so I’m going to take Karen to Dr Moorhouse’s room.’ Danni looked at Lucas and he nodded. She was desperate to ask him to come with them, but it turned out that a look between them could still say so much.

‘Let’s go.’ He followed her as she pushed Karen through the department to the consultant’s office and, not even bothering to knock on the door, they went in. Danni knew Dr Moorhouse wouldn’t be there with everything going on.

‘I’m so sorry you had to find out this way, Karen.’ Danni crouched down by her feet, trying to remember if anything anyone said to her after her father’s sudden death had been in the remotest bit helpful. But she’d been so young, and her over-riding feeling had been terror that the one person she could always rely on was gone. ‘The police will have been trying to get in touch with you and they should be able to explain a lot more about what happened.’

‘Are you sure it was him?’ Karen’s words were still punctuated with sobs and there was such hope in her eyes when she turned her face towards Danni. It would have been so easy to play along and pretend there was still a chance this might all be some kind of horrible mistake.

‘I was at the scene.’ Danni swallowed hard, not sure if she could go on, but then she felt Lucas’s hand on her shoulder. ‘Did Dave have a silver money clip in his wallet?’

‘It was platinum and it was for our… for our—’ Karen gave a shuddering sigh. ‘Our fortieth wedding anniversary. You saw it, didn’t you?’

Danni nodded, taking hold of one of Karen’s hands. ‘Is there anyone we can contact to come and be with you?’

‘Our daughters, but I don’t know their numbers, not without my phone. Dave was sorting it out for me. He takes care of all of that kind of thing.’ The tears were still rolling down Karen’s cheeks, but silently now.

‘I’ll go and sort it out, don’t worry.’ Lucas sounded so certain that even though Danni had no idea how he was going to find Karen’s daughters, she believed he could.

‘Will I be able to see him?’ Karen asked as Lucas left the room.

‘Of course you will.’ Danni didn’t want to mention that someone would probably need to formally identify Dave’s body; Karen had more than enough to cope with for now.

‘How did it happen? Did he suffer?’ Now that Karen had started to ask questions, she didn’t seem able to stop, but Danni hoped what she said next might help a tiny bit.

‘It all happened really quickly and the paramedics did everything they could to help, but I don’t think Dave would have been aware of anything, not even the crash. We don’t know for sure yet, but they think he had a cardiac arrest.’

‘I keep telling him and telling him to cut out the ciggies, but he just won’t listen.’ Karen wasn’t ready to talk about Dave in the past tense and, over the next ten minutes, it was almost as if speaking about him would somehow keep him alive. Danni understood that and it seemed to be helping Karen cope. By the time Lucas got back, Karen had shared highlights of the forty-two years she’d been married to Dave, and the lives of their two daughters and five grandchildren. The ripple effects of his death would be felt by so many people.

‘The police had already managed to get hold of one of your daughters, Kelsey, from Dave’s records at the bus company.’ Lucas spoke as he came back into the room. ‘They were on the way to take her over to your place, but they’re going to come straight here instead.’

‘Oh my poor baby, she had to hear about her dad all on her own.’ Karen was suddenly gulping for air again and clawing at her throat. ‘I can’t do this. I can’t!’

‘I know this is awful, and that you feel as if you want to start running and keep going, but Kelsey is going to need you and so are Jessica and your grandchildren.’ Danni almost felt as though she knew them already. ‘So, for now, I just need you to concentrate on your breathing, slow and steady.’

‘Do you want me to see if there’s a bay free?’ Lucas exchanged another look with Danni and she knew what he was asking. If they got her into a bay, they could give her some medication to help with her anxiety, but Karen was shaking her head.

‘I don’t want you to take me anywhere or give me anything.’ Her breath was still catching in her throat, but she sounded determined. ‘My mother went on something after her mum died and she was never the same again. Dave wouldn’t want me taking that, I know he wouldn’t.’

‘No one is going to make you take anything you don’t want to.’ Danni took hold of her hand again. ‘Let’s just concentrate on our breathing together.’

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